Pulmonary Vascular Disease and Cardiac Performance in Extreme Preterm Infants

The principal investigator hypothesize that premature newborns have disturbed cardiac performance and increased pulmonary pressures during neonatal life and at different pediatric ages. The principal investigator also hypothesize that premature newborns with poor cardiac performance and/or pulmonary hypertension have higher morbidities and poorer neuro-developmental outcomes. The principal investigator also hypothesize that premature newborns with poor cardiac performance and/or pulmonary hypertension have higher morbidities and poorer neuro-developmental outcomes and that novel echocardiography techniques will detect anomalies not uncovered by conventional imaging, and that early echocardiography may identify those with later pulmonary hypertension.