The Journal of Maternal-Fetal & Neonatal Medicine

Cardiopulmonary Interactions in the Preterm Infant: From Transitional Circulation to PDA, Pulmonary Hypertension, and BPD

Cardiopulmonary adaptation after preterm birth is a dynamic continuum that begins at cord clamping and extends through the early neonatal period. The transition from placental to pulmonary gas exchange depends on the timing of cord clamping, onset of effective respiration, lung aeration, placental transfusion, establishment of pulmonary blood flow, and rapid changes in pulmonary and systemic vascular resistance. In very and extremely preterm infants, disruption of these tightly linked processes may alter right and left ventricular loading, ductal shunting, tissue perfusion, and oxygen delivery. These early physiologic disturbances can interact with respiratory support and evolving lung injury, contributing to persistent patent ductus arteriosus, pulmonary hypertension, ventricular dysfunction, and bronchopulmonary dysplasia.

These conditions are often studied and managed as separate entities, although they are physiologically interconnected. A better understanding of heart-lung interactions across the preterm course may improve identification of clinically meaningful phenotypes and support more individualized treatment. Integrating respiratory physiology with neonatal hemodynamics, targeted echocardiography, point-of-care ultrasound, near-infrared spectroscopy, and other bedside monitoring approaches may help distinguish problems driven by pulmonary vascular resistance, excessive pulmonary blood flow, impaired ventricular performance, or parenchymal lung disease. This is particularly important because similar clinical presentations can reflect very different underlying physiology and may require opposing therapeutic strategies. Connecting delivery-room transition with later PDA, pulmonary vascular disease, and BPD may also clarify pathways linking early adaptation to short- and long-term outcomes.

This Collection will address fetal-to-neonatal cardiovascular transition, delayed and physiologic cord clamping, placental transfusion, onset of respiration and pulmonary blood flow, and delivery-room cardiopulmonary stabilization. Other topics include neonatal hemodynamic assessment; targeted echocardiography and multimodal monitoring; PDA phenotypes, shunt physiology and treatment; pulmonary hypertension and right ventricular adaptation; ventilation-hemodynamic interactions; pulmonary overcirculation; systemic perfusion and oxygen delivery; BPD-associated pulmonary vascular disease; and cardiopulmonary outcomes after prematurity. Emerging work on biomarkers, imaging, precision phenotyping, predictive analytics, and artificial intelligence is also encouraged. The Collection welcomes original clinical and translational research, clinical trials, observational studies, systematic reviews and meta-analyses, and focused review articles that advance understanding or management of cardiopulmonary physiology in preterm infants.

All manuscripts submitted to this Article Collection will undergo a full peer-review; the Guest Advisor for this Collection will not be handling the manuscripts.  

Please review the journal scope and author submission instructions prior to submitting a manuscript.  

The deadline for submitting manuscripts is August 31st, 2027. 

Please contact Menghan Li at menghan.li@taylorandfrancis.com with any queries and discount codes regarding this Article Collection. 

Please be sure to select the appropriate Article Collection from the drop-down menu in the submission system.