title: Impaired respiratory function in infants with anterior abdominal wall defects.
abstract: Respiratory function at follow-up was assessed in 13 infants who had undergone surgical repair of an anterior abdominal wall defect. Six infants had exomphalos and seven had gastroschisis. The infants were delivered at a median gestational age of 36 weeks (range, 32 to 38 weeks). Respiratory function was assessed by measurement of functional residual capacity (FRC) at a median postnatal age of 5 months (range, 1 to 10 months). Although there was no significant difference in the FRC of the infants with gastroschisis compared with those with exomphalos, the study group's mean FRC (25 mL/kg) was significantly lower than that of 50 healthy control infants (mean, 30 mL/kg; 95% CI, +/- 6 mL/kg). Five infants had an FRC below the 95% confidence limit of the normal range. These data suggest that infants with anterior abdominal wall defects may have impaired antenatal lung growth.
authors.affiliation: Department of Child Health, King's College Hospital, London, England.
authors.forename: P J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Thompson
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Greenough
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Dykes
authors.forename: K H
authors.initials: KH
authors.lastname: Nicolaides
mesh_terms: D000009:Abdominal Muscles / Q000002:abnormalities*; D000013:Congenital Abnormalities / Q000503:physiopathology; D005652:Functional Residual Capacity; D006554:Hernia, Umbilical / Q000503:physiopathology; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D015656:Respiratory Mechanics