Tag Archives: long term outcomes

Toxicity of antenatal steroids on the developing brain.

Posted on 4 September 2022 by Keith Barrington

A new study from Finland this time, raises similar concerns to those from a Canadian study. (Raikkonen K, et al. Associations Between Maternal Antenatal Corticosteroid Treatment and Psychological Developmental and Neurosensory Disorders in Children. JAMA Netw Open. 2022;5(8):e2228518). It is … Continue reading →

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Is glucose gel safe? Is it necessary?

Posted on 25 August 2022 by Keith Barrington

The Auckland group has been studying the treatment and implications of neonatal hypoglycaemia for many years now, with unique high quality studies. Two of their recent publications have addressed the safety of glucose gel for hypoglycaemia, the first (St Clair … Continue reading →

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Anti VEGF treatment of retinopathy: and the long term?

Posted on 9 August 2022 by Keith Barrington

There remains some doubt about the impacts on cerebral development, and thus on developmental progress of anti-VEGF treated babies. It is possible that there are cerebral effects of VEGF inhibition (or interception) and it isn’t clear what the exposure of … Continue reading →

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Bronchopulmonary Dysplasia; does it matter?

Posted on 7 June 2022 by Keith Barrington

I just published a “different view” article addressing the question in the title, with a group of expert collaborators, Mai Luu who is our follow up doc in Montreal, and helps to run the Canadian Neonatal Follow-Up Network (CNFUN), Paige … Continue reading →

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World NEC awareness day, part 2

Posted on 17 May 2022 by Keith Barrington

As well as all the high tech mechanistic studies in NEC, such as those that I just posted about, sometimes we need to take a step back and ask some very basic questions. What is the current natural history of … Continue reading →

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Long term impacts of antenatal steroids

Posted on 20 April 2022 by Keith Barrington

To return to a concern expressed in a recent blog, there are animal models and some observational data that suggest that antenatal steroids (ANS) could have a negative effect on cerebral development, at least with the doses used currently. Among … Continue reading →

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Antenatal steroids prior to late preterm delivery; still many questions, but a major shift in practice.

Posted on 7 April 2022 by Keith Barrington

It can sometimes take years for major advances in medicine, based on clear evidence of improved outcomes, to lead to shifts in practice. One example is the initial demonstration by Liggins and Howie that antenatal steroids (ANS) improved survival of … Continue reading →

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Preterm babies, PLEASE don’t smoke!

Posted on 5 April 2022 by Keith Barrington

One of the most addictive and harmful drugs of all is perfectly legal. Tobacco, and the nicotine it contains, are subject to prohibition for adults nowhere in the world, despite millions of deaths, prolonged severe disability, and being probably as … Continue reading →

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We need to rethink neonatal hypoglycaemia

Posted on 4 April 2022 by Keith Barrington

A great deal of time and effort is expended to detect and treat low blood sugars in the newborn. Studies to determine risk factors, monitoring schedules, and treatment strategies have taken a great deal of effort, and implementing the recommended … Continue reading →

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Steroids to improve pulmonary outcomes in preterm infants.

Posted on 29 March 2022 by Keith Barrington

When we consider using steroids in a preterm infant, ventilator dependent, with evolving lung disease, what outcomes are we most interested in? Survival, surely, is the first outcome that we want to improve, and secondly long-term pulmonary health. The adverse … Continue reading →

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