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HAZEM ALI
PULMONARY
HYPOPLASIA
HAZEM ALI
CLINICAL
Incomplete development of one or both lungs, leading to
decreased size and weight for gestational age and body
weight

Present with respiratory distress

Usually fatal in bilateral cases

Commonly associated with other anomalies in Heart, GIT,

Genitourinary, and Musculoskeletal system
CLINICAL
For lung development to proceed normally:
Adequate physical space of the fetal thorax
Adequate amniotic fluid volume
Adequate fetal breathing movements
To bring amniotic fluid to the developing lungs, leading to their distension

IF any of these factors is inadequate incomplete lung

development
 Causes of

CLINICAL Pulmonary
Hypoplasia

Oligohydramni Decreased Reduced

os intrathoracic breathing
space

Renal agenesis Renal cystic Anencephaly

disease

Fetal membrane Diaphragmatic Musculoskeletal

rupture hernia disorders

Brainstem
Hypodevelopme
nt
CLINICAL
Remember Potters syndrome:
Renal agenesis
Oligohydramnios
Pulmonary hypoplasia
Deformed limbs
Potter's facies:
Flattened 'parrot-beaked' nose
Recessed chin and micrognathia
Prominent infraorbital folds
Low-set ears
GROSS
Small lungs, relative to the thoracic cavity and to the
heart
With a normal-sized heart, the diaphragmatic surface of the lungs
should be close to the heart apex

Decreased lung weight

Left lung weight (at term) is 18 g
Right lung weight ( at term) is 21 g

Decreased lung/body weight ratio

< 0.015 in fetuses/neonates < 28 weeks gestation
< 0.012 in fetuses/neonates > 28 weeks gestation
MICROSCOPY
Decreased alveolar number and size, reduction in
airway generations

Normal Hypoplasia

Decreased radial alveolar counts

Counting the alveoli or alveolar walls transected by an imaginary line
from the mid-point of a respiratory bronchiole to the nearest pleural or
DIFFERENTIAL DIAGNOSIS

Lung Atelectasis
Commonly Acquired
Collapsed alveoli (no decrease in number)
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HAZEM ALI