Infant Respiratory Distress Syndrome (Irds)

Infant Respiratory Distress Syndrome (IRDS) is also often called neonatal respiratory distress syndrome, RDS - infants, and hyaline membrane disease. Whatever the name used, IRDS is defined as a very common as a lung disorder in infants that are premature. It causes an increase in breathing difficulty, and has many similarities to acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), which can also be seen in adults. Approximately 10% of premature infants have IRDS, and it is very rare in babies that are full-term when they are born. The main cause of the disease is a lack of surfactant in the lungs. In mature lungs, surfactant is normally present, and its function is to ensure that the air sacs in the lungs to not collapse and that they can be easily inflated with air. In babies that are born premature and suffer from IRDS, there is not enough surfactant in their lungs to allow them to easily draw in air, and so these tiny infants struggle to breathe. The air sacs that would normally expand and allow the infant to draw oxygen collapse and therefore the breathing is compromised. The symptoms of IRDS are usually present very shortly after birth and without treatment they will become progressively worse, which can be fatal (www.nlm.nih.gov,2004).

When an infant with IRDS draws a breath, the air sacs do not expand, or do not expand properly. When the infant expels that breath, the air sacs collapse completely, instead of staying open somewhat to allow for air to come in easily during the next breath. Plasma can also leak from the lung tissue and coat the air spaces. The coating is pink and glassy, or hyaline, which is how the alternate name of the problem came about. Because the effort to breath is so strong, the infant that suffers from this type of problem can easily succumb to exhaustion during the first few hours of life if it is not treated (www.infoplease.com,2004).

There are several risk factors for IRDS including too much stress during the actual birth that can cause acidosis in the newborn, diabetes in the mother during the pregnancy, and prematurity. While there are other risk factors and causes, these are the three that are most likely to cause IRDS. There are several symptoms that are seen in babies that have IRDS, and these include an unusual way of breathing such as drawing the chest muscles back during breathing, breathing too rapidly, being short of breath or grunting while breathing, puffy or swollen legs or arms, flaring of the nostrils, brief stops in the breathing, and a bluish cast to either the skin or the mucus membranes. Fortunately, there are tests that can be conducted to help determine whether an infant has IRDS so that treatment can begin. These tests include an analysis of the blood gases, x-rays of the chest, studies of lung function, and blood cultures to rule out other issues, such as sepsis and infection, that may also cause respiratory distress in infants, especially if they are premature (www.nlm.nih.gov,2004).