Lung diffusion
Previous studies in the pre-29,30 and post-surfactant era18,22,24 have reported significantly lower values of DLCO and KCO in EP children and adolescents than in full-term controls. Similarly, we found that the above parameters were lower in the EP adolescents with or without BPD than in MLP adolescents. The reduction in diffusion capacity is probably a consequence of the arrestĀ of lung development and reflects a decrease in the surface area for gaseous exchange. Lung parenchymal injury and vascular disease should lead to a more significant decline in diffusion capacity in patients with BPD. However, as observed in our study, diffusion capacity does not always differ between EP patients with and without BPD18,24; in addition, changes in the diffusion capacity tend to persist over time.31