Monthly Archives: January 2022

Antenatal treatment of Diaphragmatic Hernia, indications for intervention.

Posted on 12 January 2022 by Keith Barrington

My previous post about the FETO trials noted that the published trials reported a clear benefit of antenatal treatment of the highest risk group, but the moderate risk group had an improved outcome which didn’t meet classic definitions of statistical … Continue reading →

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Ethically acceptable pain research

Posted on 12 January 2022 by Keith Barrington

Just imagine for a moment that you are the parent of Jo, who is 4 years old, Jo has a sudden onset of breathlessness and the investigations in the Emergency Room show a spontaneous pneumothorax, that needs a drain. You … Continue reading →

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Unethical pain research in the newborn. A list of shame.

Posted on 11 January 2022 by Keith Barrington

Unethical pain studies are still being published, in journals which include several from mainstream publishing houses. In these studies published recently and appearing on-line in recent weeks, newborn infants were assigned by the researchers to experience pain. The reviewers of … Continue reading →

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How do we make decisions for the most immature babies, with their families?

Posted on 10 January 2022 by Keith Barrington

Although babies under 25 weeks account for a tiny proportion of births, and a small proportion of NICU admissions, the importance of the question asked in the title can be seen by the ongoing number of publications, below are just … Continue reading →

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Should we treat electrographic seizures?

Posted on 6 January 2022 by Keith Barrington

In order to answer the question posed in the title you would need to take babies at risk of seizures, but not yet having clinically diagnosed convulsions, randomize them to have routine continuous EEG monitoring or not and then treat … Continue reading →

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Was OPTIMIST too optimistic?

Posted on 5 January 2022 by Keith Barrington

One of the trials we have been waiting for has just been published Dargaville PA, et al. Effect of Minimally Invasive Surfactant Therapy vs Sham Treatment on Death or Bronchopulmonary Dysplasia in Preterm Infants With Respiratory Distress Syndrome: The OPTIMIST-A … Continue reading →

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Caring for the most profoundly immature babies; what works?

Posted on 4 January 2022 by Keith Barrington

The upcoming issue of “Seminars in Perinatology” is about the controversies in caring for the babies <25 weeks gestation. Babies born at 24, 23, 22 or even now 21 weeks gestation are so physiologically immature that we can’t just assume … Continue reading →

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Outcomes of very preterm infants: what matters to parents?

Posted on 3 January 2022 by Keith Barrington

Neonatologists can be said to have invented “Outcomes Research”, the systematic evaluation of patients after an acute-care event. It is a field of research which has now been extended from early infancy into the adult period and provided enormous insights … Continue reading →

Posted in Neonatal Research | 5 Comments