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Type:
Educational Exhibit
Keywords:
Education and training, Education, Conventional radiography, Paediatric, Lung
Authors:
D. Uceda, A. Moreno , R. Llorens, M. A. Meseguer, S. P. G. Alandete, E. De la Via; Valencia/ES
DOI:
10.1594/ecr2015/C-2351
Background
The neonatal period is an extremely important interval of time elapsed between birth and 28 days of age.
It represents the time of the greatest risk to the infant and approximately 65% of all deaths that occur in the first year of life happen during this 4-week period.
In the first 24 hours of life occur the main physiologic adjustments needed for extrauterine life being the aeration of the lung and the transition to air-breathing the most important events inmediately after birth and they allow major changes in cardiopulmonary physiology.
An inadequate pulmonary adaptation is the most important cause of morbility in preterm neonates whose lungs usually are physiologically and morphologically immature and they may develop respiratory distress syndrome (RDS),
being surfactant deficiency a frecuently cause of it,
and may necessitate prolonged mechanical ventilation,
increasing the risk of lung injure with consequent bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD).
All those abnormalities can be assessed by chest-X-ray.
Many of this newborns are monitored and treated in pediatric intensive care units (PICU) where tubes or catheters are used for treatment; the placement of them aslo can be evaluated by chest-x ray.
Due this important and critical period of time,
it’s essential make a quality report,
mentioning if the chest x-ray is optimal,
the position of catheters and signs of respiratory distress,
keeping in mind that sometimes,
normal varieties of the neonatal anatomy can mimic disease.