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

PAS report 2024: Clinical Trials part 1.

Posted on 9 May 2024 by Keith Barrington

As usual the PAS meeting was packed with neonatology. The App was even worse than last year, crashing frequently on many peoples’ phones. It was completely useless for the posters, as they were listed by number, and the different sessions … Continue reading →

Posted in Neonatal Research | Tagged | 3 Comments

Not neonatology. Birding in western Ontario

Posted on 9 May 2024 by Keith Barrington

On my way to the PAS annual meeting in Toronto, I decided to spend a couple of days at Point Pelee national park. It is the southern-most point of Canada, a peninsula jutting out into lake Erie that is a … Continue reading →

Posted in Neonatal Research | 5 Comments

When you can see what you are doing, you can see what you have done: Video-Laryngoscopy in the newborn

Posted on 8 May 2024 by Keith Barrington

I have been increasingly using video laryngoscopy in my practice, both when I myself perform the intubation, and when I am supervising a resident or other trainee. I usually ask them to use a VL when it is a nurse … Continue reading →

Posted in Neonatal Research | Tagged , , , , | 9 Comments

How should we pasteurize donor breast milk?

Posted on 23 April 2024 by Keith Barrington

The standard method of pasteurization of donor breast milk, and I believe the only method approved by HMBANA (the human milk banking association of north america), is similar to what Louis Pasteur himself came up with a couple of centuries … Continue reading →

Posted in Neonatal Research | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

22 to 23 weeks gestation, what is so special?

Posted on 27 March 2024 by Keith Barrington

I was confused by this new article published in the Journal of Pediatrics. I really don’t understand what the point of it is, except to try and discourage intensive care for one particular group of high risk babies (Guillen U, … Continue reading →

Posted in Neonatal Research | 6 Comments

Oxygen is toxic in older kids too!

Posted on 22 February 2024 by Keith Barrington

A new large RCT from PICUs in the UK randomly compared 2 saturation target ranges, 88-92 and >94%. (Peters MJ, et al. Conservative versus liberal oxygenation targets in critically ill children (Oxy-PICU): a UK multicentre, open, parallel-group, randomised clinical trial. … Continue reading →

Posted in Neonatal Research | Tagged , , | 4 Comments

Donor human milk, not toxic after all!

Posted on 31 January 2024 by Keith Barrington

It was fairly recently that I deconstructed a truly terrible database analysis which claimed that neonatal mortality was dramatically increased among very preterm infants who received mother’s own milk (MoM) and donor human milk (DHM), without any formula or fortifier, … Continue reading →

Posted in Neonatal Research | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Is there any indication to close the PDA?

Posted on 26 January 2024 by Keith Barrington

Yet another trial of PDA treatment and attempted closure with a null result. Baby-OSCAR was a UK multi-center masked RCT of ibuprofen treatment of 23 to <29 week infants who were screened with echocardiogram within the first 72 hours of … Continue reading →

Posted in Neonatal Research | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Time to open the DOOR

Posted on 17 January 2024 by Keith Barrington

I have written many times about the problems with classical composite outcomes in neonatal research. “Death or BPD”, “death or NDI”, or sometimes “death or NEC or Sepsis or BPD or severe IVH” have been used as a way of … Continue reading →

Posted in Neonatal Research | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

To bolus or not to bolus? Not really a question…

Posted on 19 December 2023 by Keith Barrington

Many preterm babies receive boluses of normal saline, often during the first 24 hours when their blood pressure is lower than desired. I have 3 serious questions about this. The rationale for giving a fluid bolus is that the infant … Continue reading →

Posted in Neonatal Research | Tagged , | 3 Comments