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Factors Affecting Fetal Lung Growth

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Physiology of the Fetal and Neonatal Lung

Abstract

The control of organ growth in quantitative terms is a subject of sufficient complexity to deter most developmental biologists, and particularly physiologists, surgeons and pathologists from too close an enquiry. However, it has become recognized that fetal lung growth is extraordinarily susceptible to adverse influences1. The most frequent effect of adverse influences on the human fetal lung is to retard growth so that the lungs at birth are hypoplastic and extrauterine respiration may not be established2–5. The human fetal lungs normally represent about 2–3% of body weight in the third trimester with a gradual fall in weight of the lungs relative to that of the body towards term6. Pathologists have regarded lungs representing 1.2% or less of body weight as unduly small7,8. We found that 14% of fresh stillbirths and early neonatal deaths at Hammersmith Hospital had hypoplastic lungs as indicated by a low lung/body weight ratio, and a frequency above 10% has been recognized by other pathologists1,9. Large lungs are far less frequent than small ones, and in my experience are invariably associated with congenital laryngeal atresia.

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Authors
  1. J. S. Wigglesworth
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Paediatrics, University College Hospital Medical School, The Rayne Institute, London, UK

    D. V. Walters  & L. B. Strang  & 

  2. Clinic des Maladies de l’Enfance, Université de Liege, Belgium

    F. Geubelle

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Wigglesworth, J.S. (1987). Factors Affecting Fetal Lung Growth. In: Walters, D.V., Strang, L.B., Geubelle, F. (eds) Physiology of the Fetal and Neonatal Lung. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-4155-7_3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-4155-7_3

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Print ISBN: 978-94-010-8344-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-94-009-4155-7

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