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

Improving outcomes of Preterm Infants, early post-discharge intervention programs

Posted on 8 August 2012 by Keith Barrington

The history of early intervention programs is rather mixed. Do they actually help to improve outcomes? The most recent cochrane review was published in 2007 by the amazingly productive Lex Doyle and his colleagues, and was followed by an updated review … Continue reading →

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A life worth living? Who would want a child like that?

Posted on 5 August 2012 by Keith Barrington

A troubling tale from an adult with a handicap has just been published. (Peace WJ: Comfort care as denial of personhood. Hastings Center Report 2012, 42(4):14-17.) When admitted to an acute care hospital with a serious wound the author was … Continue reading →

Posted in Neonatal Research | Tagged , , | 4 Comments

Weekly Updates #2

Posted on 29 July 2012 by Keith Barrington

Recent things that I have noted: Dennington D, Vali P, Finer NN, Kim JH: Ultrasound confirmation of endotracheal tube position in neonates. Neonatology 2012, 102(3):185-189. Bed-side ultrasound by the NICU team can confirm ETT position quickly and without radiation. This … Continue reading →

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‘Our children are not a diagnosis’ – what an amazing response!

Posted on 26 July 2012 by Keith Barrington

This blog was initially intended mostly for health professionals (especially neonatologists and pediatricians in training) and others interested in academic neonatology, with the hope that some other people might find it interesting. The reaction to my post on Annie Janvier’s … Continue reading →

Posted in Advocating for impaired children | 3 Comments

“Our children are not a diagnosis”: the family experience of trisomy 13 and 18

Posted on 23 July 2012 by Keith Barrington

Annie Janvier, Barb Farlow and Ben Wilfond have just published a rather disturbing study. At least I feel a bit disturbed. (Janvier A, Farlow B, Wilfond BS: The experience of families with children with trisomy 13 and 18 in social … Continue reading →

Posted in Advocating for impaired children | Tagged , , | 104 Comments

Ventilation during Resuscitation, sustained inflations?

Posted on 20 July 2012 by Keith Barrington

I don’t post much about animal studies, but there are some things which are extremely difficult to study in human babies and at least for preliminary studies they may be essential and very informative. That great Melbourne group has been looking at the effects of … Continue reading →

Posted in Neonatal Research | 1 Comment

Weekly Update #1

Posted on 20 July 2012 by Keith Barrington

There are a number of interesting and/or important publications that I don’t get the time to blog about. I was thinking that maybe a weekly update which lists them with just a little description rather than a full blog post might be … Continue reading →

Posted in Neonatal Research | 3 Comments

Hypotension and cerebral oxygenation

Posted on 18 July 2012 by Keith Barrington

Two recent observational studies have examined how cerebral oxygenation is affected by therapies designed to increase blood pressure. The first, by Hilde Bonestroo and co-workers, studied 71 infants less than 32 weeks gestation who had a mean arterial blood pressure … Continue reading →

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Trying to improve outcomes of preterm infants

Posted on 17 July 2012 by Keith Barrington

Two recent RCTs in high risk newborns of things I would never have thought of. The first is a trial of Estradiol and Progesterone supplementation (Trotter A, Steinmacher J, Kron M, Pohlandt F. Neurodevelopmental Follow-Up at Five Years Corrected Age … Continue reading →

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More on Probiotics

Posted on 16 July 2012 by Keith Barrington

All of the accumulated evidence regarding probiotics in preterm infants to prevent necrotising enterocolitis (NEC) clearly shows that probiotic bacteria (specifically bifidobacteria and lactobacilli) are effective in reducing the incidence of NEC by more than 50%, they, as a result, reduce mortality in eligible infants. … Continue reading →

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