Non-Infectious Parotitis in Infants with Severe Bronchopulmonary Dysplasia: A Case Series

We report four former extremely premature infants with severe bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) who had tracheostomy for prolonged mechanical ventilation and presented with non-infectious parotitis while still in the neonatal intensive care unit. A retrospective chart review of patients with BPD who developed parotitis was conducted over a 5-year period at a level IV neonatal intensive care unit with a BPD home ventilator program. During this 5-year period, there were 409 patients with BPD, and 48 (11.7%) of these patients had a tracheostomy (severe BPD). Four patients with severe BPD with tracheostomy and on mechanical ventilation developed non-infectious parotitis. All four patients initially underwent an infectious work-up, which were negative. Non-infectious parotitis can complicate the clinical course of tracheostomized and ventilator-dependent infants with severe BPD. Awareness of this condition in infants with chronic illness will prevent unnecessary investigations since the clinical course is self-limited. Int J Clin Pediatr. 2018;7(3):36-38 doi: https://doi.org/10.14740/ijcp302w