1 Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, Chilckens Hospital of Orange County, 1109 West La Veta, Orange, CA 92668
Drs. Bashour and Balfe (Pediatrics 59(suppl):1048, June 1977) claim to have demonstrated a 19% incidence of renal anomalies in patients in the newborn period with spontaneous lung rupture. Before this figure can be accepted as fact and before decisions of investigation and/or therapy based on this incidence are initiated, certain details about their study should be noted. This retrospective study suffers primarily from the lack of information as to why the infants with spontaneous pneumothorax or pneumomediastinum were brought to the attention of the neonatal intensive care unit.