[The lung phospholipid content in newborn infants with idiopathic respiratory distress syndrome in relation to lung histology and survival time (author's transl)].

In an autopsy series on 25 newborn infants who died in the perinatal period (19 with and 6 without respiratory distress syndrome [RDS]) the total phospho-lipid, lecithin, and sphingomyelin content was determined in lung homogenates as parameters of the surfactant content. Histologically, the newborn infants with RDS were subdivided into those with and those without hyaline membranes. Newborn infants with RDS hat a lower lung phospho-lipid content than mature newborn infants without RDS but there was no difference in phospholipid content in relation to the presence or absence of hyaline membranes. The lecithin content of the lungs in those infants with RDS who had survived for more than 24 hours was higher in the absence of hyaline membranes than in their presence.