Tag Archives: erythropoietin

Preventing NEC. Does erythropoietin have a role? Unreliable data.

Posted on 16 October 2023 by Keith Barrington

I wrote a similarly titled post 3 years ago, which lamented the poor research practices of a group in Zhengzhou, who seem to perform large RCTs, then register them after completion, and sometimes register them with different primary outcomes to … Continue reading →

Posted in Neonatal Research | Tagged erythropoietin, Necrotising Enterocolitis, Randomized Controlled Trials, Systematic Reviews | Leave a comment

Erythropoietin does not protect the brain, what next?

Posted on 27 July 2022 by Keith Barrington

The latest trial to fail to find a benefit of erythropoietin (Epo) for neonatal brain protection has just been published (Wu YW, et al. Trial of Erythropoietin for Hypoxic-Ischemic Encephalopathy in Newborns. N Engl J Med. 2022;387(2):148-59). The HEAL trial, … Continue reading →

Posted in Neonatal Research | Tagged erythropoietin, Hypothermia, hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy, Randomized Controlled Trials | 4 Comments

Three trials with null results, how should we respond?

Posted on 10 December 2020 by Keith Barrington

These 3 articles have just been published, all show no difference in long term outcomes between the randomized groups. What does that mean for the impact on therapeutic decision-making? Natalucci G, et al. Neurodevelopmental Outcomes at Age 5 Years After … Continue reading →

Posted in Neonatal Research | Tagged endotracheal intubation, erythropoietin, Ibuprofen, long term outcomes, Premedication, Randomized Controlled Trials | 1 Comment

Does erythropoietin prophylaxis prevent NEC? Unreliable data.

Posted on 14 August 2020 by Keith Barrington

Routine erythropoietin administration from early life in very preterm babies has been postulated to be neuro-protective. Unfortunately, despite some early promising results, 2 large well-performed RCTs showed no benefit, including the largest with 750 babies under 28 weeks, which showed … Continue reading →

Posted in Neonatal Research | Tagged erythropoietin, Necrotising Enterocolitis, Randomized Controlled Trials, Systematic Reviews | 1 Comment

Erythropoietin for brain protection in the very preterm? Not worth Penuts.

Posted on 17 January 2020 by Keith Barrington

That isn’t a mis-spelling, just a bad attempt to play with the acronym for a good trial; the PENUT trial, just published in the (FP)NEJM. (Juul SE, et al. A Randomized Trial of Erythropoietin for Neuroprotection in Preterm Infants. N … Continue reading →