Archives of disease in childhood. Fetal and neonatal edition
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Arch. Dis. Child. Fetal Neonatal Ed. · May 2014
The potential for neonatal organ donation in a children's hospital.
Neonatal organ donation does not occur in the UK. Unlike in other European countries, Australasia and the USA death verification/certification standards effectively prohibit use of neurological criteria for diagnosing death in infants between 37 weeks' gestation and 2 months of age and therefore donation after neurological determination of death. Neonatal donation after circulatory definition of death is also possible but is not currently undertaken. There is currently no specific information about the potential neonatal organ donation in the UK; this study provides this in one tertiary children's hospital. ⋯ With around 60 paediatric organ donors in the UK annually, there does appear significant potential for donation within the neonatal population. Reconsideration of current infant brain stem death guidelines is required to allow parents the opportunity of donation after neurological determination of death, together with mandatory training in organ donation for neonatal teams, which will also facilitate donation after circulatory definition of death.
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Arch. Dis. Child. Fetal Neonatal Ed. · May 2014
Multicenter StudyElectrographic seizures are associated with brain injury in newborns undergoing therapeutic hypothermia.
Seizures are common among newborns with hypoxic-ischaemic encephalopathy (HIE) but the relationship between seizure burden and severity of brain injury among neonates receiving therapeutic hypothermia (TH) for HIE is unclear. We tested the hypothesis that seizure burden is associated with cerebral tissue injury independent of amplitude-integrated EEG (aEEG) background activity. ⋯ Electrographic seizure burden is associated with severity of brain injury on MRI in newborns with HIE undergoing TH, independent of degree of abnormality on aEEG background. Seizures are common during cooling, particularly on day 1, with a significant rebound on day 4.
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Arch. Dis. Child. Fetal Neonatal Ed. · May 2014
Feasibility and acceptability of targeted screening for congenital CMV-related hearing loss.
Congenital cytomegalovirus (cCMV) is the most common non-genetic cause of sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL) in children. Ganciclovir has been shown to prevent the continued deterioration in hearing of children with symptomatic cCMV, but some children with cCMV-related SNHL are unidentified in the neonatal treatment period. Neonatal cCMV screening provides an opportunity to identify infants with cCMV-related SNHL who might benefit from early treatment. ⋯ Targeted salivary screening for cCMV within the NHSP is feasible, acceptable and detects infants with cCMV-related SNHL who could benefit from early treatment.