Category Archives: Neonatal Research

Clinical examination and treatment of septic shock. Not neonatology.

Posted on 7 November 2025 by Keith Barrington

Andromeda-Shock-2 Investigators for the Andromeda Research Network SSoAR, et al. Personalized Hemodynamic Resuscitation Targeting Capillary Refill Time in Early Septic Shock: The ANDROMEDA-SHOCK-2 Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA. 2025. This is a very interesting trial evaluating the usefulness of clinical assessment … Continue reading →

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Lactoferrin supplementation does not prevent late-onset sepsis in the preterm… or is it more complicated that that?

Posted on 6 November 2025 by Keith Barrington

Many of my readers will remember the impressive results of the high-quality study by Paolo Manzoni, Manzoni P, et al. Bovine lactoferrin supplementation for prevention of late-onset sepsis in very low-birth-weight neonates: a randomized trial. JAMA. 2009;302(13):1421–8) which showed that … Continue reading →

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Return to the Regression to the Mean

Posted on 5 November 2025 by Keith Barrington

After my post on regression to the mean, and its importance in studies of apnoea therapy, I was thinking of other examples. Some which have been most evident to me are those which impact on areas of medicine that I … Continue reading →

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Beware of meta-analysis factories

Posted on 4 November 2025 by Keith Barrington

I mentioned in my previous post, an issue with meta-analyses; there have been several I have read recently which are very problematic. They seem to be produced by groups that have little concern for the quality of their product. This … Continue reading →

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Do blood transfusions treat apnoea of prematurity?

Posted on 3 November 2025 by Keith Barrington

There has for a long time been a thought that anemic babies with many apnoeas could benefit from a blood transfusion which would decrease their apnoeic spells. This idea has never been directly tested by an RCT. That is, a … Continue reading →

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Non-invasive high-frequency oscillation; worth the hassle?

Posted on 29 October 2025 by Keith Barrington

Non-invasive HFOV can be delivered by a variety of different equipment and interfaces. The high flows and upper airway turbulence probably have an impact on gas exchange; It appears that the effective dead space of the oro-nasopharynx is washed out … Continue reading →

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Avoiding IVs in moderately preterm babies

Posted on 28 October 2025 by Keith Barrington

A new very large (for neonatology) RCT has just been published. Ojha S, et al. Full exclusively enteral fluids from day 1 versus gradual feeding in preterm infants (FEED1): a open-label, parallel-group, multicentre, randomised, superiority trial. Lancet Child Adolesc Health. … Continue reading →

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Bob Bartlett RIP

Posted on 23 October 2025 by Keith Barrington

I just learned of the very recent death of Dr Robert Hawkes Bartlett, May 8, 1939 – October 20, 2025. He was a surgeon who had been developing extracorporeal oxygenation systems for cardiothoracic surgery who realised that extracorporeal circulation could … Continue reading →

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Neonatal Research Shorts : October 2025

Posted on 2 October 2025 by Keith Barrington

Afifi J, et al. Atropine Versus Placebo for Neonatal Nonemergent Intubation: A Randomized Clinical Trial. J Pediatr. 2025;286:114719 I had thought this was a settled issue, Neil Finer showed many years ago that atropine alone decreased bradycardias during intubation. But … Continue reading →

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Predicting neurological and developmental outcomes. Why? How?

Posted on 29 September 2025 by Keith Barrington

There are a huge number of publications correlating medium term outcomes (by which I mean outcomes around 1 to 2 years of age) with findings in the neonatal period. Most have concerned various approaches to brain imaging, although other studies … Continue reading →

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