Postnatal corticosteroids in the treatment of chronic lung disease in the preterm infant: past, present, and future.

Over the past 20 years, corticosteroid use in the preterm infant has fallen in and out offavor. Steroids were introduced in the 1980s as a mode of preventing and treating chronic lung disease (CLD) in the preterm infant population. This use has been targeted toward low birth weight infants who are unable to wean off the ventilator. Dose, duration, and timing of treatment with dexamerhasone, the steroid typically used in NICUs, has varied. This article examines why the medication has fallen out of favor and whether postnatal corticosteroids still have a place in preventing and treating CLD.