Meconium Aspiration Syndrome

Meconium Aspiration Syndrome (MAS) remains as one to the major causes of neonatal respiratory distress, which may lead to respiratory failure and death in the infant. This syndrome is the defined as “respiratory distress in an infant born through meconium-stained amniotic fluid (MSAF) with characteristic radiological changes and whose symptoms cannot be otherwise explained” (T. E. Wiswell, J. M. Tuggle, and B. S. Turner 1). About 8–20% of all deliveries have been detected with meconium- stained amniotic stained fluid, increasing to 23–52% after 42 weeks of gestation. 2-9% of these infants of these infants develop MAS. Cleary and Wiswell [1] have proposed a severity criteria to define MAS: (a) mild MAS is a disease that requires less than …show more content…
The primary symptom of MAS is respiratory distress, such as nasal flaring, retractions, cyanosis, grunting, rales, and rhonchi. The doctor may also notice low heart rate in the baby before birth, tachypnea, low Apgar score, limpness in the baby, and post maturity such as long nails in the baby. MAS can be prevented by giving the mother an amnioinfusion when fetal distress occurs, which helps by cushioning the umbilical cord and corrects the umbilical compressions, reduction in post term delivery, management of abnormal heart rate monitoring, and decreased number of infants with a low Apgar score. Current guidelines state that if a newborn has inhaled meconium but is active, looks well, and has a strong heartbeat (>100 bpm), the delivery team can watch the infant for MAS symptoms which usually appear within the first 24 hours [4]. Initial treatment of the infant that has inhaled meconium, not active, and limp is to clear the airway as soon as possible by use of an endotracheal and applying …show more content…
Surfactant therapy is the administration of an artificial surfactant that is placed into the baby’s lungs to help keep the air sacs open, while nitric oxide inhalation is thought to improve oxygenation in MAS after treatment with surfactant due to many infants responding well to the combination.

So far, the outlook on MAS is promising being that there is no long-term health effects if/when it is caught early. MAS still has a high morbidity and mortality rate and among the top fatal disorders in the newborn if not treated promptly. Breathing problems may be more severe in some cases but they often go away in 2 to 4 days. Rapid breathing (tachypnea) may still continue for several weeks. Although MAS rarely leads to brain damage, prolonged lack of oxygen in the uterus or complication of meconium aspiration may lead to brain