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

Caffeine is good for the preterm brain; might more caffeine be even better?

Posted on 24 September 2025 by Keith Barrington

One of the pivotal RCTs in neonatology was the CAP study (Schmidt B, et al. Long-term effects of caffeine therapy for apnea of prematurity. N Engl J Med. 2007;357(19):1893–902). We performed that study because there was no data on the … Continue reading →

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Unethical research practice, fraud and abuse of trust.

Posted on 2 June 2025 by Keith Barrington

One of the worst kinds of unethical research practice is to fail to publish results after a prospective study. Parents consent to research for altruistic motives, in the belief that their baby’s participation will help the care of other, future, … Continue reading →

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Caring for the most extremely immature infants

Posted on 29 May 2025 by Keith Barrington

There have been multiple publications concerning this issue recently, many from the tiny baby collaborative. The first 2 publications are about the overall approach to providing intensive care at extremely low GA: Bernardini LB, et al. It’s the little things. … Continue reading →

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Hypotension and Shock. Optimising treatments

Posted on 27 May 2025 by Keith Barrington

A new single centre RCT of permissive hypotension (PH) compared to “standard treatment” (ST) of very preterm infants 24 to <30 weeks GA, with a mean BP lower than their GA has just appeared (Alderliesten T, et al. Treatment of … Continue reading →

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Supporting Breast Milk production in the NICU

Posted on 26 May 2025 by Keith Barrington

A recent confluence of 3 reviews, one on breastfeeding specifically in the NICU (Hilditch C, et al. Effect of Neonatal Unit Interventions Designed to Increase Breastfeeding in Preterm Infants: An Overview of Systematic Reviews. Neonatology. 2024;121(4):411-20) another on the evidence … Continue reading →

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NEC awareness day, 17 May 2025. What is new in NEC prevention?

Posted on 17 May 2025 by Keith Barrington

I thought, as today is NEC awareness day, I would give an overview of recent research about NEC prevention strategies. Probiotics. I am sure my readers are aware of the major problems in the USA which have followed the occurrence … Continue reading →

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Should we be giving erythropoietin, or analogues, to preterm infants?

Posted on 14 May 2025 by Keith Barrington

In some pre-clinical models, erythropoietin acts as a neuroprotective agent, which led to the performance of clinical trials to determine whether there was a positive impact on outcomes of the preterm. The latest study has just been published, and it … Continue reading →

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Neonatal Research Shorts : May 2025

Posted on 13 May 2025 by Keith Barrington

Dutta S, et al. Seven-day versus 14-day antibiotic course for culture-proven neonatal sepsis: a multicentre randomised non-inferiority trial in a low and middle-income country. Arch Dis Child Fetal Neonatal Ed. 2025. This is a multicentre trial from India of neonates … Continue reading →

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Therapeutic Hypothermia at 35 weeks

Posted on 11 April 2025 by Keith Barrington

In response to a couple of thoughtful comments to my previous post, I thought I would try to address the specific issue of the infant of 35 weeks. (Faix RG, et al. Whole-Body Hypothermia for Neonatal Encephalopathy in Preterm Infants … Continue reading →

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Therapeutic Hypothermia in the Late Preterm Infant

Posted on 9 April 2025 by Keith Barrington

Current guidelines support the use of therapeutic hypothermia for term infants with hypoxic ischaemic encephalopathy. Both the Canadian and the US guidelines include infants born at 35 weeks gestation. However, the data supporting efficacy for those late preterm infants, is … Continue reading →

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