Phenotypes of Bronchopulmonary Dysplasia in Adults

Bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD), first described by Northway in 1967, is a process of neonatal lung injury that is most strongly associated with prematurity. The "old" form of the disease associated with the oxidative damage and volutrauma from perinatal mechanical ventilation has been increasingly supplanted by a "new" form resulting from interrupted growth of the lung at earlier stages of fetal development. Given the significant improvement in the survival of children with BPD since the 1980s, many more of these patients are living into adulthood and are being seen in adult pulmonary practices. In this review, we present three brief vignettes of patients from our practice to introduce three of the major patterns of disease seen in adult survivors of BPD, namely, asthma-like disease, obstructive lung disease, and pulmonary hypertension. Additional factors shown to affect the lives of adult BPD survivors are also discussed. Finally, we discuss insights into the process of transitioning these complex patients from pediatric to adult pulmonary practices. As survivors of BPD enter adulthood and continue to require specialty pulmonary care, awareness of the disease's varied manifestations and responses to treatment will become increasingly important.