pediatrics
Meconium Aspiration Syndrome
Introduction
Intrapartum meconium aspiration can cause inflammatory pneumonitis and mechanical bronchial obstruction, causing a syndrome of respiratory distress. Findings include tachypnea, rales and rhonchi, and cyanosis or desaturation. Diagnosis is suspected when there is respiratory distress after delivery through meconium-containing amniotic fluid and is confirmed by chest x-ray. Infants with respiratory distress are often intubated and placed on mechanical ventilation. Treatment of severely affected infants with surfactant decreases the need for extracorporeal membrane oxygenation but does not affect mortality ( Treatment references , (See also Overview of Perinatal Respiratory Disorders .) Extensive Perinatal Physiology accompany the birth process, sometimes unmasking conditions that posed no problem during intrauterine life. For that reason, a person with 