Advances in Respiratory Care of the Newborn

Abstract

Advances in respiratory care defined the early decades of neonatology and drove improvements in neonatal morbidity and mortality. Surfactant replacement therapy, the culmination of years of basic and translational research, changed the management and outcomes for preterm infants with respiratory distress and set a very high bar for the introduction of new evidenced-based therapies in the NICU. More recent advances in respiratory care have been driven by technological developments and bioengineering tours de force. Yet, more than 60 years after the discovery of surfactant, we are still struggling to define the optimal approach to the respiratory management of our patients. In this edition of Clinics in Perinatology we have chosen cutting-edge topics in the diagnosis and management of respiratory diseases spanning the full spectrum of neonatal care. The topics have been carefully chosen with the goal of presenting both the current state of the art and a glimpse into what the future may hold for “advances in respiratory care of the newborn.” It is clear there is still much more work to be done. We want to thank all of the authors for their comprehensive contributions to this volume. The invited authors for this edition of Clinics in Perinatology are trailblazers in their respective fields of investigation and the thought-leaders in our subspecialty. They have summarized the literature and identified gaps in our knowledge. In many cases, they have shared their views on the most promising future therapies and approaches, based on their own innovative investigations in human infants and animal models of neonatal respiratory disease. We hope you will agree that this edition serves