Tag Archives: Systematic Reviews

How long is a piece of string? When is a PDA hemodynamically significant?

Posted on 16 February 2013 by Keith Barrington

The answer to the first question is traditionally ‘twice as long as half a piece of string’ which is supposed to be funny. Equally difficult is the second question, when is a patent ductus arteriosus (PDA)  hemodynamically significant? We could … Continue reading →

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The acid test

Posted on 7 February 2013 by Keith Barrington

As well as avoiding putting anything untested in the intestinal tracts of preterm babies, we should also leave alone their intestinal function. My good friend Sanjay Patole has published, with his group of systematic reviewers in Perth, a review of … Continue reading →

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Erythromycin: not another toxic placebo!

Posted on 29 November 2012 by Keith Barrington

Erythromycin is an antibiotic. This much is true. It is active against mycoplasma and against ureaplasmas, but is very poor at actually eradicating them. It also stimulates motilin receptors in the bowel, that is why it increases bowel activity, and … Continue reading →

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NICE! Or mostly so… treatment of early onset neonatal infection

Posted on 20 November 2012 by Keith Barrington

The National Institute of Clinical Excellence in the UK has been a real boon to the NHS, despite attempts to limits its influence by the pharmaceutical companies, the explicit evaluation of risks and benefits of various interventions allows appropriate use … Continue reading →

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Glutamine supplementation, just when you thought it was solved…

Posted on 24 October 2012 by Keith Barrington

Glutamine is one of the most abundant amino acids in our bodies, but there is relatively little in TPN as it is poorly soluble. During the first few days of limited enteral nutrition preterm babies receive little glutamine from any … Continue reading →

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Tocolytics and Network meta-analysis

Posted on 22 October 2012 by Keith Barrington

What do you do if you want to know what is the best treatment for a condition, and treatment A and treatment B have both been compared to placebo, but have never been compared to each other in RCTs? If … Continue reading →

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Probiotics: enough is enough

Posted on 9 October 2012 by Keith Barrington

At the EAPS meeting in Istanbul, the Proprems trial results were just presented. Now this has not yet been subject to full peer-review, but as a report of a large multicenter RCT it is not likely that their main findings … Continue reading →

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Saving Babies’ Lives, for Pennies a day.

Posted on 8 October 2012 by Keith Barrington

I am talking about Canada, not the third world! Probiotics are cheap and reduce mortality. Florababy(TM) costs about $25 per 60 gram tub. One tub is enough for 120 days of prophylaxis, that is enough for the entire hospitalization of … Continue reading →

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Sweet!

Posted on 24 September 2012 by Keith Barrington

Very immature babies often become hyperglycemic during the first few days of life. How to respond (or prevent) this has been uncertain. One problem in deciding on the best course of action is the multiple possible approaches that need to … Continue reading →

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CRPs; are they CRaP?

Posted on 19 September 2012 by Keith Barrington

I was taught before asking for a test to always ask myself 2 questions. What will I do if the result is negative? What will I do if the result is positive? The counsel was that if the 2 answers … Continue reading →

Posted in Neonatal Research | Tagged , | 3 Comments