Chronic Lung Disease in the Neonate: Past, Present, and Future

Abstract

Bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD), the chronic lung disease (CLD) in the neonate described over 40 years ago, remains a major cause of morbidity and mortality. Because of advances in perinatal care, the disease now appears in infants that are far more immature than in 1967. Soon, infants born at the limit of viability (based on the developmental stage of the lung and its actual incapacity to exchange oxygen and carbon dioxide) will be routinely resuscitated. Neonatologists will then be confronted with new dilemmas (predicting viability) and new therapeutic opportunities. This review takes a quick look at past achievements that have led to the current status of BPD and projects on the potential of stem cell-based therapies to protect the ever more immature lung from injury.