Changes in blood gas tensions following administration of amine buffer THAM to infants with respiratory distress syndrome.

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Abstract
Babies with respiratory distress syndrome can be divided into 2 groups with a good and bad prognosis on the basis of an initial arterial O2 tension measurement taken when breathing 100% O2, providing a measure of the extent of V-A shunting. Following intravenous THAM given early in the illness, there is a considerable and often sustained rise in arterial O2 tension in the bad prognosis group which can best be accounted for by a diminution in such shunting. The alteration in calculated shunt induced by THAM injection suggests that reversible hypoperfusion is a factor in the etiology of the pulmonary changes seen in the respiratory distress syndrome.