respiratory distress syndrome of the newborn
Noun: A serious medical condition affecting newborn infants, particularly those born prematurely. It is characterized by breathing difficulties due to the lungs' inability to fully expand because they lack a crucial substance (surfactant). Key symptoms include rapid, shallow breathing, bluish skin discoloration (cyanosis), and the development of a glassy membrane in the lung's air sacs.
This term is used exclusively in medical contexts to diagnose and describe a specific, life-threatening lung disorder in infants. - The premature baby was immediately treated for respiratory distress syndrome of the newborn. - Advances in neonatal care have significantly reduced mortality from respiratory distress syndrome of the newborn.
- Clinical Diagnosis: The term is a formal clinical diagnosis, often abbreviated as RDS or NRDS (Neonatal Respiratory Distress Syndrome) in medical notes and discussions among healthcare professionals.
- Pathophysiology Context: It is used when discussing the underlying cause, which is a deficiency of pulmonary surfactant, a substance that keeps the tiny air sacs (alveoli) in the lungs from collapsing.
- RDS: The common medical abbreviation.
- NRDS (Neonatal Respiratory Distress Syndrome): A variant specifying the neonatal period.
- Hyaline Membrane Disease: An older, synonymous term based on the glassy (hyaline) membrane that forms in the lungs.
- Surfactant Deficiency Syndrome: A descriptive term focusing on the root cause.
- Hyaline membrane disease (historical/clinical synonym)
- Infant respiratory distress syndrome (IRDS)
This term refers specifically to a syndrome caused by developmental immaturity of the lungs, primarily in preterm infants. It is distinct from other causes of breathing difficulties in newborns, such as meconium aspiration or pneumonia. The defining feature is the lack of surfactant.
- an acute lung disease of the newborn (especially the premature newborn); lungs cannot expand because of a wetting agent is lacking; characterized by rapid shallow breathing and cyanosis and the formation of a glassy hyaline membrane over the alveoli