Since the lungs are like the last thing to fully develop and a baby born in under 27 weeks will possibly have severe respiratory problems, I am wondering…
How underdeveloped would a premie’s lungs be if he were only two months early? Obviously he’d be functional and shouldn’t pose too many immediate health risks at birth, but would the lungs be smaller or less effective than if he went to term? How much smaller or less efficient would his lungs be? There would have to be some affect, wouldn’t there?
My nephew was born 11 weeks premature, and here is what I know about this. (This was 20+ years ago, medical things may have changed since then.)
The lungs will be underdeveloped, and this is a serious concern for premies. But it’s a temporary condition, and once the development is completed (after birth) their lungs will end up just as functional as anybody else’s.
My nephew was in an incubator for several weeks (until he was about the full 9 months from conception). During much of that time, he had a tube down his throat supplying hydrated oxygen to him. The nurses mentioned that the tube would cause damage & scarring of his throat, which would probably take until he was 4-6 years old to be completely gone. (But that was much preferable to dying from oxygen starvation!) They were also worried because his underdeveloped lungs have less ability to reject irritations & infections than normal lungs; that is one of the things the incubator helps protect him from.
But by high school, any damage to his throat had corrected itself. He had a very good singing voice, and participated in his high school choir. He also played a wind instrument in the school band, so I guess his lung capacity was up to normal.
So it’s certainly a problem for premies, but not a permanant one.
Your assumtion that his lungs would be fully functional and pose no immediate problem is incorrect. The risk of death is highest the first several hours after delivery. In the past, this meant simply waiting to see if the infant survived the first few hours, then the first few days. Even after the advent of respiratory support with endotracheal intubation and mechanical ventilation, the infant lungs often failed.
The lung problems in premies still exist, but treatment has improved. One problem, the lack of surfactant, is now treated within hours of delivery. Very under developed lungs are supported mechanically by the use of Extra Corporeal Membrane Oxygenation or ECMO. This is a procedure wherein the heart and lungs are bypassed. The infant’s tissues are oxygenated by the machine. The technology is much like the heart/lung by-pass machine used in open heart surgery.
There have been many other innovations as well.