Tag Archives: Randomized Controlled Trials

Nutritional Catch-Up

Posted on 19 August 2013 by Keith Barrington

This is my attempt to catch up with some interesting publications from the last few weeks, about nutritional interventions and necrotizing enterocolitis. Karagol BS, Zenciroglu A, Okumus N, Polin RA: Randomized controlled trial of slow vs rapid enteral feeding advancements … Continue reading →

Posted in Neonatal Research | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Cervical pessaries? Really?

Posted on 13 August 2013 by Keith Barrington

A new study in the Lancet is a multi-center RCT of the use of a cervical pessary to reduce preterm delivery in twin pregnancies. I must say this sounded a bit unlikely to me, but it turns out there just … Continue reading →

Posted in Neonatal Research | Tagged , | Leave a comment

More SUPPORT controversy

Posted on 16 July 2013 by Keith Barrington

The BMJ has just published an ‘Observations’ piece, with the tag line ‘The Washington Brief’ which would make you think that it is a news item. It is, in contrast, a very biased recounting of some of the controversy raised … Continue reading →

Posted in Neonatal Research | Tagged , | Leave a comment

EPO, re-introducing confusion

Posted on 4 July 2013 by Keith Barrington

I thought that routine erythropoietin (EPO) treatment of preterm infants had been thrown out of the window. It is well known that EPO levels are low in preterms after birth, which is part of the multifactorial pathophysiology of anaemia of … Continue reading →

Posted in Neonatal Research | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

We can stop routine suctioning at birth!

Posted on 17 June 2013 by Keith Barrington

I never understood why it was thought to be so important, (indeed by some essential) to stick some sort of suctioning device into the babies mouth, usually right back to the posterior pharyngeal wall, and suck out amniotic fluid. It … Continue reading →

Posted in Neonatal Research | Tagged , | 3 Comments

Probiotic Fungi too?

Posted on 4 June 2013 by Keith Barrington

It seems that probiotic fungi, specifically Saccharomyces boulardii probably don’t prevent NEC. There is one previous study Costalos et al which showed no difference in NEC, but some benefits on secondary outcomes (it was very underpowered for NEC, 87 babies … Continue reading →

Posted in Neonatal Research | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Probiotics work in Practice

Posted on 19 May 2013 by Keith Barrington

For anyone who was at the latest PAS meeting, you probably heard about the presentation of Proprems. This is the latest RCT of probiotics, from Australia and New Zealand, using ABCDophilus, which is interestingly manufactured in New Jersey. The authors … Continue reading →

Posted in Neonatal Research | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

SUPPORT: even better than originally thought

Posted on 14 May 2013 by Keith Barrington

Public Citizen are at it again, repeating and expanding their idiotic criticisms of the SUPPORT trial. And stating that the trial was ‘even worse than originally thought’. They are now focusing on the ‘problem’ that the NICUs used ‘intentionally inaccurate’ … Continue reading →

Posted in Neonatal Research | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Does NIDCAP work?

Posted on 13 May 2013 by Keith Barrington

I guess that depends on what you mean ‘work’.  Does developmentally sensitive care lead to more responsive, humane, and less disturbing care, improving the environment for our preterm infants, I think the answer is clearly yes. If you mean does … Continue reading →

Posted in Neonatal Research | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

How much oxygen?

Posted on 9 May 2013 by Keith Barrington

At the PAS meeting in Washington DC, that has just finished, the COT trial results were presented, as well as the short term outcomes of the BOOST trials. These are a series of clinical trials which have compared higher saturations … Continue reading →

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