Tag Archives: BPD

Steroids and BPD, what do we really know?

Posted on 26 March 2026 by Keith Barrington

My first foray into systematic review and meta-analysis was about 25 years ago with this article Barrington KJ. The adverse neuro-developmental effects of postnatal steroids in the preterm infant: a systematic review of RCTs. BMC Pediatr. 2001;1:1. As you can … Continue reading →

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Optimizing ventilation in established BPD

Posted on 13 March 2026 by Keith Barrington

Babies with established BPD (I won’t worry about the exact diagnostic criteria here, but very preterm infants who are still ventilated as they approach term are the group I am talking about) have somewhat reduced compliance, increased airways resistance, leading … Continue reading →

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Automated oxygen control; is it worth it?

Posted on 18 February 2026 by Keith Barrington

The history of automated controls of inspired oxygen goes back many decades, to before the invention of pulse oximetry. The first studies I remember used transcutaneous PO2 as the target variable, which had major limitations, as well as the advantage … Continue reading →

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Prophylactic acetaminophen in the preterm

Posted on 17 February 2026 by Keith Barrington

In a newly published trial (Roze JC, et al. Prophylactic Treatment of Patent Ductus Arteriosus With Acetaminophen: A Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA Pediatr. 2026) nearly 800 infants of 23 to <29 weeks GA were randomized within 12 hours of birth. … Continue reading →

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Why doesn’t closing the PDA help preterm infants?

Posted on 12 December 2025 by Keith Barrington

I have been continuing to think about this issue, so will subject you all to some of my thoughts. The large RCTs of medication for closure of the PDA show no benefit, and some evidence of harms, but we all … Continue reading →

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Should we ever close the PDA?

Posted on 10 December 2025 by Keith Barrington

The latest large multicentre RCT has just been published. Laughon MM, et al. Expectant Management vs Medication for Patent Ductus Arteriosus in Preterm Infants. JAMA. 2025. In this trial, infants of 22 to 28 weeks GA were randomized at between … 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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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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Prolonging CPAP in the preterm to improve pulmonary outcomes

Posted on 8 April 2025 by Keith Barrington

I wrote about this trial after last year’s PAS meeting, mentioning that it looked like a potential significant improvement in respiratory care of the preterm The full publication confirms that is a real possibility. McEvoy CT, et al. Extended Continuous … Continue reading →

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Surfactant plus Budesonide? Not a PLUSS for outcomes

Posted on 14 November 2024 by Keith Barrington

Many of us were already aware of the general direction of the results of this trial, a multi-centre RCT of surfactant with or without budesonide (Manley BJ, et al. Intratracheal Budesonide Mixed With Surfactant for Extremely Preterm Infants. JAMA. 2024), … Continue reading →

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