Yellow pulmonary hyaline membranes.

Yellow pulmonary hyaline membranes were observed at autopsy in 16 newborn infants between 1972 and 1974 in four hospitals of Philadelphia, Pa., and Newark, N.J. Other pediatric pathologists in this country and in Spain have seen the same lesion within the last decade. Chemical analysis of affected lung tissue, histochemistry, and electron microscopy show the yellow color to be due to the presence of bilirubin. No substantial clues concerning the basic etiology or mechanism for the formation of these unique membranes emerge from a detailed review of clinical and postmortem data nor from comparison of these data with those for 68 control infants with the usual acidophilic pulmonary hyaline membranes. We are left, however, with the impression that prolongation of life, relatively elevated levels of serum bilirubin, and protracted assisted ventilation (with either CPAP or PEEP) are intimately related to their formation.