Aluminum hydroxide in the symptomatic treatment of infants with chronic diarrhea.

Two neonates with milk intolerance and two older infants, one with acute gastroenteritis and the other with prolonged malnutrition, developed chronic diarrhea. Despite bowel rest, total parenteral nutrition, and alterations in the protein and carbohydrate content of the milk preparations used, every attempt to feed them resulted in diarrhea. All four patients were given aluminum hydroxide because of its bile salt-binding activity and its tendency to cause constipation.

Fulminant neonatal meningococcemia.

Neisseria meningitidis is a rare cause of infection in infants younger than 2 months of age, presumably because of transplacental passage of protective maternal antibodies. In most reported cases of meningococcal disease in neonates, a relatively mild clinical course has been observed. A 25-day-old infant survived acute, severe meningococcemia due to group B N meningitidis.

Preferential distribution of lobar emphysema and atelectasis in bronchopulmonary dysplasia.

The chest roentgenograms of 142 neonates who survived mechanical ventilation for respiratory distress syndrome (N = 99) and prolonged apnea (N = 43) were reviewed. Thirty-seven infants had bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) and 17 of these developed lobar hyperinflation of the right lower lobe and collapse of the right upper lobe. Regional lung function was measured with a xenon 133 technique in three of these infants and in five other patients who either died or were lost to follow-up.