Respiratory distress in neonates

Respiratory distress due to either medical or surgical causes occurs commonly in neonates. It is the most common cause of admission to a neonatal surgical intensive care facility in a tertiary care hospital. The distress can be caused by a variety of clinical conditions; common conditions treated in medical intensive care units are transient tachypnea of the new born, respiratory distress syndrome, pulmonary air leak and pneumothorax. In surgical causes of respiratory distress in neonates the underlying mechanisms include airway obstruction, pulmonary collapse or displacement and parenchymal disease or insufficiency; the common causes are congenital diaphragmatic hernia, congenital cystic adenomatoid malformation, congenital lobar emphysema and esophageal atresia with or without tracheo-esophageal fistula. Obstructive lesions of the new born airway include choanal atresia, macroglossis, Pierre-Robin syndrome, lymphangioma, teratoma or other mediastinal masses, cysts, subglottic stenosis and laryngo tracheomalacia. Imaging plays a very major role in the pre-operative diagnosis of these conditions and proper pre-operative resuscitation helps in improving the results of surgery dramatically.