Advanced Care for Babies with Bronchopulmonary Dysplasia
Leaders in BPD Care
In the Bronchopulmonary Dysplasia (BPD) Center at Cincinnati Children’s, we understand how stressful it is to have a baby born prematurely. Here your infant will receive compassionate, high-quality care from specialists with extensive experience caring for the most fragile newborns. Our expertise is in treating children who have conditions related to abnormalities of the lung, heart, and airway due to premature birth. We’re here to help both you and your child through the challenges of these conditions.
Why Choose the Bronchopulmonary Dysplasia (BPD) Center?
Individualized Care
Many babies born prematurely, especially those more than two months early, develop bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD), a chronic lung disease commonly seen in newborns. BPD includes lung disease, airway obstruction and pulmonary hypertension, in addition to other related conditions. Our team is multidisciplinary, which means that we work together to treat all the components of BPD. We collaborate with a wide range of experts throughout Cincinnati Children’s to care for your baby’s individual needs. Since infants with BPD may continue to have related medical needs as they grow, we care for children from infancy through the teen years.
Cutting-Edge Techniques
Our team uses breakthrough imaging (MRI) techniques for premature babies right within the Newborn Intensive Care Unit. These techniques are not available at other centers and give us the highest quality images possible. Our expertise in imaging aids us in making earlier diagnoses, developing new therapies and customizing each child’s treatment – ultimately to help achieve better outcomes.
Since its inception, the BPD Center has improved the following outcomes for patients served at Cincinnati Children’s and our partner facilities:
- The need for tracheostomy decreased by 38%
- Respiratory readmissions in the first year of life decreased by 48%
- Patients developing pulmonary hypertension decreased by 44%
Multidisciplinary Approach and Continuity of Care
Your care team will be made up of specialists from a variety of areas, based on your child’s individual needs. We regularly partner with experts from the following areas of the hospital:
- Pulmonary Medicine
- Radiology and Medical Imaging
- Pulmonary Hypertension and Cardiology (The Heart Institute)
- Aerodigestive and Esophageal Center
- Neurology
- Sleep Center
- Respiratory Care
- Nutrition Therapy
- Occupational Therapy and Physical Therapy
- Social Services
In addition our team works closely with referring doctors and hospital teams to ensure continuity of care before, during and after discharge.
Online Second Opinions
Our nationally-recognized specialists provide online second opinions for families. They will review your case and answer specific questions about a diagnosis or treatment options. It’s easy, convenient and secure. Plus, you don’t have to leave home. Our case manager will collect your medical records and guide you through the process.
Clinical Trials
We lead or participate in multiple single- and multi-site clinical trials as part of newborn research groups such as the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) Neonatal Research Network.
History of Expertise in Lung Development Research and Care
Cincinnati Children’s is a hub for research in neonatal and pediatric pulmonary medicine. Among the many advances we have been involved in are:
- The first synthesis of respiratory surfactant, a liquid that coats the inside of the lungs that helps allow infants to breathe when they are born
- Helping create the first consensus guidelines for BPD severities, which provide standards for determining how severe a child’s bronchopulmonary dysplasia is
- Identifying the genes that regulate lung development and maturation
