Lung disease in the very immature neonate: radiographic and microscopic correlation.

Radiographic-pathologic correlation of pulmonary patterns has not been performed in very small preterm infants below 28 weeks of gestation. The radiologic findings of linear interstitial densities or generalized airspace opacity coincided with histologic changes of edema and hemorrhage and indicate that this is the most frequent abnormality producing radiographic pulmonary opacification in infants of 23-27 weeks gestation. On occasion, parenchymal immaturity alone results in lung opacification, reflecting the established interpretation of diffuse atelecatasis as the histologic-radiographic finding in respiratory distress syndrome.