RADIOLOGIC FINDINGS IN LUNGS OF PREMATURE INFANTS

A study of serial roentgenograms in a group of premature infants who required increasedenvironmental oxygen for at least 5 days was carried out. Forty-eight of 52 infants with birth weights under 1,300 grams had abnormal roentgenograms; of these 35 had definite or probable Wilson-Mikity syndrome. Two subjects had lung biopsies at the height of respiratory difficulty in order to clarify the disease process. Several infants with birth weights over 1,500 grams who required supplemental oxygen because of hyaline membrane disease or meconium aspiration also developed Wilson-Mikity syndrome. It is suggested on clinical and pathological grounds that oxygen toxicity may be responsible for some of the pulmonary disease noted. © 1969 The C. V. Mosby Company.