The respiratory course of extremely preterm infants: a dilemma for diagnosis and terminology.

A ntenatal corticosteroids, postnatal surfactant treatment, and new strategies for respiratory care have modified the clinical presentation, lung outcome, and survival of extremely low birth weight (ELBW) infants. These changes over the last 10-20 years have resulted in a large population of ELBW survivors that have clinical courses that are quite different from those observed before the general use of surfactant and antenatal corticosteroids. The classic definitions and diagnoses for respiratory problems developed for larger preterm infants may not be accurate for this ELBW population. Hence, clinicians often find themselves without the proper terms to describe and code the clinical course in many of these patients.