Author Archives: Keith Barrington

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About Keith Barrington

I am a neonatologist and clinical researcher at Sainte Justine University Health Center in Montréal

Addressing Prognostic Uncertainty

I recently gave a presentation to the Pediatrix consortium which was based on our review article about the approach to take after diagnosis of a serious intracranial haemorrhage (ICH) in the very preterm infant. (Chevallier M, et al. Decision-making for … Continue reading

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Closing the PDA… or leaving it alone?

Two new publications, in the Journal of Pediatrics, report trends in definitive closure of the PDA. This is a subject that I haven’t written about much on the blog, I wrote about the Beneductus trial last year, which was an … Continue reading

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Artificial Formulae and NEC. It is not necessarily the protein source!

As mentioned several times recently, artificial formula seems to lead to an increase in Necrotising Enterocolitis, compared to donor milk. Of note, the trials in the Cochrane Systematic Review include both those with the entire diet being formula or donor … Continue reading

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Preventing NEC. Does erythropoietin have a role? Unreliable data.

I wrote a similarly titled post 3 years ago, which lamented the poor research practices of a group in Zhengzhou, who seem to perform large RCTs, then register them after completion, and sometimes register them with different primary outcomes to … Continue reading

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Preventing NEC : Gastric acid has a purpose, don’t block it.

As this series of posts have all had something to do with prevention of Necrotising Enterocolitis, I thought I’d write about some recent articles which refer to one of the risk factors for NEC, the use of acid suppression medications. … Continue reading

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The myth of the “exclusive human milk diet”; fortification options for breast milk.

The Exclusive Human Milk Diet sounds superficially immediately convincing: “We should only give milk products derived from human milk to human babies”. But, is it more than just a catchy phrase? The major company which is responsible for producing a … Continue reading

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Necrotising Enterocolitis: impacts of feeding patterns

A new review article published in J Perinatol makes many claims about feeding patterns and NEC, but I think has seriously misinterpreted the literature (Assad M, et al. Dilemmas in establishing preterm enteral feeding: where do we start and how … Continue reading

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Long break, same preoccupations!

I had a long break from blogging over the summer, and, as I return to action, I note that there are some really high quality studies which have been performed or are in progress. But I continue to lament some … Continue reading

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Probiotics. What now?

Many of you will have seen or heard of the FDA warning about probiotics in preterm infants. In a letter (I am not in the USA, so I am not sure exactly who this letter was sent to, or the … Continue reading

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“Death or NDI” does it matter… to anybody?

Despite the evidence that “NDI” is of little interest to parents, we continue to focus on it in outcome studies, and even equate it with death. Unfortunately, this new study, using the substantial resources of the NICHD NRN and their … Continue reading

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