Aspiration pneumonia in an infant with neurological sequelae - case report

Aspiration pneumonia is a frequent cause of morbidity and mortality in children with neurological deficits. We present the case of a 4-month-old infant from the Foster Care Center, with severe psychomotor retardation, blindness, and associated cardiac malformation, who was admitted to the Pediatrics Clinic of the Emergency County Hospital of Craiova, Romania, presenting aspiration pneumonia and moderate respiratory insufficiency. Under sustained, early instituted treatment, the evolution was towards death. The chest radiography and histopathological examination of the pulmonary tissue confirmed the diagnosis. The neurological impairment was not only a favoring factor for aspiration, through the deglutition disorders, but it was also an aggravating one, through the bacterial colonization of the lungs.