PNEUMOTHORAX AND PNEUMOMEDIASTINUM ASSOCIATED WITH RENAL MALFORMATIONS IN NEWBORN INFANTS

Abstract

Nine newborn infants, with severe otherwise unexplained respiratory distress beginning immediately at birth, were found to have pneumothoraces or pneumomediastinum on chest roentgenograms. Typical facies associated with Potter’s syndrome was identified in 7. At autopsy, renal anomalies, in the form of agenesis or cystic dysplasia, were present. The 8 infants who died in the immediate neonatal period showed pulmonary hypoplasia at autopsy—a finding which was absent in the infant who survived to 33 days of life. The presence of unexplained pneumothorax and pneumomediastinum in the immediate newborn period should alert the clinician to the presence of underlying renal abnormalities, even in the absence of suggestive external features.