Lung Aeration and Gas Exchange in Small For Gestational Age or Appropriate For Gestational Age Infants With Moderate

Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jul 3, 2026

Laryngeal Mask Airway (LMA) Placement in a Neonatal Patient Simulator Using a Non-Inflatable Supraglottic Airway (SGA)
04:56

Laryngeal Mask Airway (LMA) Placement in a Neonatal Patient Simulator Using a Non-Inflatable Supraglottic Airway (SGA)

Published on: July 14, 2023

Almudena Alonso-Ojembarrena1, Barbara Loi2, Luca Bonadies3

  • 1Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, Puerta del Mar University Hospital, Cádiz, Spain; Biomedical Research and Innovation Institute of Cádiz (INiBICA), Research Unit, Puerta del Mar University Hospital, Cádiz, Spain.

Chest
|July 1, 2026
PubMed

Insights

Small-for-gestational-age (SGA) infants with moderate-severe bronchopulmonary dysplasia (msBPD) show similar lung aeration and gas exchange compared to appropriate-for-gestational-age (AGA) infants. These findings hold true regardless of the specific definition used for msBPD or growth classification.

Area of Science:

  • Neonatal respiratory medicine
  • Pediatric pulmonology
  • Perinatal research

Background:

  • Small-for-gestational-age (SGA) infants experience higher rates and severity of bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD).
  • The respiratory pathophysiology evolution in SGA infants with BPD remains largely unknown.
  • Understanding these differences is crucial for targeted interventions.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate if SGA infants with moderate-to-severe BPD (msBPD) exhibit distinct pathophysiological phenotypes.
  • To compare lung aeration and gas exchange between SGA and AGA infants diagnosed with msBPD.
  • To elucidate the respiratory characteristics in SGA infants with msBPD.

Main Methods:

  • Secondary analysis of the multicenter PATH-BPD cohort.
  • Classification of SGA infants based on birthweight (<10th percentile or <-2 Z-scores).
  • Assessment of lung aeration via quantitative lung ultrasound and gas exchange using SpO2/FiO2, PtcO2/FiO2, and PtcCO2.

Main Results:

  • No significant differences in the evolution of lung aeration were observed between SGA and AGA infants with msBPD.
  • Gas exchange parameters (SpO2/FiO2, PtcO2/FiO2, PtcCO2) showed similar trends in both SGA and AGA infants with msBPD.
  • These similarities persisted regardless of the BPD definition (NIH-2001, NICHD-2018, Jensen) or growth classification.

Conclusions:

  • The evolution of lung aeration and gas exchange in SGA and AGA infants with msBPD is comparable.
  • These findings suggest that SGA status does not create a distinct pathophysiological respiratory phenotype in msBPD.
  • Further research may explore other factors influencing BPD outcomes in SGA infants.
Abstract

Keywords:
alveolarizationchronic lung diseasegrowthpreterm neonate

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