[Hyaline membrane disease in full-term neonates (author's transl)]

Eleven full term neonates with respiratory distress syndrome resembling hyaline membrane disease (HMD) are reported. Gestational ages awere assessed from the history and by clinical and EEG criteria. The diagnosis of HMD was made when clinical and radiological signs, usually present in premature infants, were found together with an abnormal lecithin/sphingomyelin ratio in the tracheal aspirate during the first 60 hours. In the majority of newborns all organs should be mature after 37 weeks gestation but, development may be delayed. Thus the lungs in the full term infants may occasionally have an immature surfactant system.