Archives of Disease in Childhood, Vol 64, 1379-1383, Copyright © 1989 by Archives of Disease in Childhood.
Chorioamnionitis and serum IgM in Wilson-Mikity syndrome
M Fujimura, T Takeuchi, H Kitajima and M Nakayama
Department of Neonatal Medicine, Osaka Medical Centre, Japan.
A total of 753 infants weighing less than 1800 g at birth were studied
prospectively and their serum IgM concentrations measured within 72 hours
of age. Placentas from 584 of these infants were examined histologically
for chorioamnionitis. The results were correlated with chronic respiratory
insufficiency. Altogether 101 infants developed chronic respiratory
insufficiency of which 22 had bronchopulmonary dysplasia and 35
Wilson-Mikity syndrome. The remaining 44 infants were classified as
'unexplained chronic lung disease'. Mean serum IgM concentration for
Wilson-Mikity syndrome was 1.02 g/l whereas it was 0.14 g/l for
bronchopulmonary dysplasia and 0.32 g/l for unexplained chronic lung
disease. The incidence of chorioamnionitis was significantly higher in
Wilson-Mikity syndrome (30/35) compared with bronchopulmonary dysplasia
(4/16) and with infants without chronic respiratory insufficiency
(145/490). Wilson-Mikity syndrome was shown to be significantly correlated
with the evidences of intrauterine inflammation.
