Role of inflammation in the evolution of bronchopulmonary dysplasia

Bronchopulmonary dysplasia, a chronic lung disease of very immature infants, is characterized by a progressive sequence of lung injury and aberrant wound healing. Pre- and postnatal factors have been shown to induce an injurious inflammatory response in the immature airways and the pulmonary interstitium of preterm infants, which may subsequently affect normal alveolarization and pulmonary vascular development with possible lifelong consequences for the infants.

Section editor:Vineta Fellman – Division of Pediatrics, Lund University, Lund, Sweden