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

Hypocapnia in asphyxiated infants

Posted on 17 May 2012 by Keith Barrington

Some of my posts are not necessarily going to be about very new publications, sometimes a clinical event or question stimulates me to review the literature, and I will share my findings with the readers. Spontaneous hypocapnia is not rare … Continue reading →

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Predicting outcomes in extremely preterm infants

Posted on 15 May 2012 by Keith Barrington

Extremely preterm infants (less than 28 weeks gestation) have an increased risk of adverse neurological or developmental outcomes. A new publication from the University of Chicago emphasizes a feature that has been shown before. That among survivors, there is little difference in … Continue reading →

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Hand washing

Posted on 14 May 2012 by Keith Barrington

Sometimes our discussion of infection control become somewhat theoretical, we talk about frequencies and methodologies. Here are a sequence of images that are worth a thousand words. the first 2 are from a publication in the New England Journal of … Continue reading →

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Nutrition of very preterm babies

Posted on 11 May 2012 by Keith Barrington

There is a ‘growing’ feeling that we don’t give enough protein to our preterm infants, especially during the enteral phases of nutrition. Fortified maternal breast milk use is associated with lower overall rates of weight gain, despite all its benefits. … Continue reading →

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Pain relief for intramuscular injections

Posted on 10 May 2012 by Keith Barrington

Sometimes we can’t avoid giving an IM injection, even though they are painful. Some vaccines should be given IM, and the routine needle in the thigh of every baby for vitamin K is a rite of passage, that has become standard everywhere. … Continue reading →

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The microbiome of the preterm infant, how it relates to NEC

Posted on 10 May 2012 by Keith Barrington

The intestinal flora of the preterm infant and how it relates to NEC. The normal pattern of colonization of the intestine is disturbed by: prematurity; by caesarian delivery; by antibiotics; and by feeding formula rather than breast milk. The abnormal … Continue reading →

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Pain relief and retinopathy screening, part 2.

Posted on 9 May 2012 by Keith Barrington

My good friend Gene Dempsey (a neonatologist and clinical researcher in Cork) reminded me of their trial published in 2010, and suggested that the title of my previous post may be misleading. I guess I really don’t want readers to think that … Continue reading →

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More on Probiotics

Posted on 9 May 2012 by Keith Barrington

I received a comment from Colin Morley (everyone in neonatology knows who Colin is, for anyone else who is reading this, he is a neonatologist and researcher from Cambridge and Melbourne). I asked his permission to post it (with my … Continue reading →

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Preventing Prematurity

Posted on 8 May 2012 by Keith Barrington

We’ve known for a while that progesterones can reduce prematurity in certain situations. Intramuscular 17 hydroxy progesterone caproate reduces prematurity in women who have had a previous premature baby. (Meis’s article link below) Now a systematic review of intravaginal progesterone … Continue reading →

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Pain relief during retinopathy screening, nothing works very well.

Posted on 7 May 2012 by Keith Barrington

Mandel R, Ali N, Chen J, Galic IJ, Levesque L: Nitrous oxide analgesia during retinopathy screening: a randomised controlled trial. Arch Dis Child Fetal Neonatal Ed 2012, 97(2):F83-87. http://fn.bmj.com/content/97/2/F83 My colleagues and friends Romain Mandel and Nabeel Ali performed a … Continue reading →

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