Archive for pulmonology
Five ways to help manage your child’s asthma this school year
While fall is a time of considerable change for children — a new school year with new challenges — it can also be especially difficult for those with asthma. Between viruses, allergies, and colder air, asthma triggers increase for many children in the fall. Late summer is an ideal time to ensure your child is ... Read More
Finding a way to help newborns who can’t immediately have heart treatment
Newborns with complex congenital heart defects (CHD) and pulmonary overcirculation often need treatment as soon as possible. Unfortunately, some of these children are not in good enough health to withstand surgery. To address this challenge, Boston Children’s heart specialists leaned into technological innovation, their experience, and a perseverance that would ultimately confirm their belief that even the ... Read More
(Virtually) visiting the home to help control childhood asthma
Many children have difficulty taking their asthma medicine on a regular basis. Sometimes it’s a matter of feeling well and deciding not to take the medication; other times, it’s simply forgetting. But some children also don’t know how to properly use an asthma inhaler, or they can’t access their medicine in the first place. A ... Read More
Making ionocytes: A step toward cell or gene therapy for cystic fibrosis
Cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) modulators were a breakthrough for cystic fibrosis, improving the movement of chloride and water and moistening mucus secretions. But these drugs are expensive, don’t work in all patients with cystic fibrosis, and have side effects and interactions with other drugs. People who do respond to CFTR modulators must take ... Read More
Study seeks to identify household triggers for chronic lung disease in children
Home is where the heart is, but it’s also where air pollutants, allergens, and other irritants can make breathing difficult for children with the chronic lung disease bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD). BPD is the most common respiratory disease affecting children who were born prematurely. It leads to impaired lung function and respiratory symptoms similar to those associated ... Read More
Reconstructing a chest wall, one virtual step at a time
It takes a village of clinicians and engineers to reconstruct a chest wall. It also takes a lot of 3D modeling. A young girl needed to have her chest wall restructured to stop life-threatening airway obstruction. To ensure the complicated operation would be efficient, Emily Eickhoff, a Boston Children’s biomedical engineer, partnered with a team ... Read More
A heart valve that grows along with a child could reduce invasive surgeries
Clinical trials have started for the first prosthetic pulmonary valve replacement that is specifically designed for pediatric patients and can expand over time inside a child’s anatomy. Instead of having invasive replacement surgeries every few years, as is the practice now, a child can have the valve fitted to their individual body size and, if ... Read More
With support for genetic condition trisomy 18, Brooklyn ‘tells her own story’
Erin and Tim Haggan quickly realized they would always be seeking answers after learning the child they were expecting had trisomy 18. It is a life-threatening chromosomal condition, and only about 10 percent of children live beyond their first year. Those who survive grow slowly and often have congenital heart defects (CHD) and other organ anomalies. The couple ... Read More
Optimizing care for bronchopulmonary dysplasia, infant by infant
Preterm newborns with bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) can require ongoing mechanical ventilation to support their lungs. But babies with BPD aren’t just newborns with underdeveloped lungs. Each has a unique presentation. And every part of their care is important, with the ultimate goal of enabling them to grow, develop, and go home to their families. The ... Read More
Bringing Xavien home: One family’s journey with bronchopulmonary dysplasia
Xavien Velazquez is getting ready to celebrate his first birthday. It’s a milestone for every child but especially meaningful for this little boy who has spent more than half his life away from home receiving care for bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD), a chronic lung disease characterized by respiratory distress that is most often seen in newborns ... Read More