Archives of disease in childhood. Fetal and neonatal edition
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Arch. Dis. Child. Fetal Neonatal Ed. · Jan 2006
ReviewWithholding and withdrawing of life sustaining treatment in the newborn.
The rapid progress of medical technology has resulted in more opportunities to maintain the life of infants in serious and potentially life threatening situations. Whether to treat such infants is a common dilemma. ⋯ Sometimes, either parents or care teams choose to seek a decision from the courts. Ways of reaching the best possible and most inclusive consensus decisions are examined in this review.
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Arch. Dis. Child. Fetal Neonatal Ed. · Jan 2006
Umbilical cord blood procalcitonin and C reactive protein concentrations as markers for early diagnosis of very early onset neonatal infection.
Procalcitonin (PCT) and C reactive protein (CRP) concentrations in umbilical cord blood of 197 neonates were measured to evaluate their value as markers of infection. Sixteen of the neonates were infected. The sensitivity, specificity, and negative and positive predictive values were respectively 87.5%, 98.7%, 87.5%, and 98.7% for PCT and 50%, 97%, 67%, and 94% for CRP. Serum PCT in cord blood seems to be a useful and early marker of antenatal infection.
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Arch. Dis. Child. Fetal Neonatal Ed. · Jan 2006
Developmental outcome in newborn infants treated for acute respiratory failure with extracorporeal membrane oxygenation: present experience.
To describe the later health status of newborn infants who received extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) for acute respiratory failure in the era after the UK ECMO trial. ⋯ Most newborn infants with acute respiratory failure treated with ECMO will have a normal neurodevelopment screening assessment at 11-19 months of postnatal age. There is no evidence to suggest that changes in neonatal practice since the UK ECMO trial have led to changes in outcome of infants undergoing ECMO therapy.
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Arch. Dis. Child. Fetal Neonatal Ed. · Jan 2006
Blood flow in the common carotid artery in term and preterm infants: reproducibility and relation to cardiac output.
To assess the reproducibility of, and determine normative data for, flow volume measurements from the right common carotid artery (CCA) and its relation to left ventricular output (LVO) in stable term and preterm babies using Doppler ultrasound. ⋯ It is possible to perform reproducible measurements of flow volume in the CCA of newborn infants. In stable, spontaneously breathing babies, both cardiac output and carotid flow increased with gestation and body weight. The proportion of cardiac output distributed to the right CCA remained relatively constant across gestation.
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Arch. Dis. Child. Fetal Neonatal Ed. · Nov 2005
Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative StudyIncidence of nasal trauma associated with nasal prong versus nasal mask during continuous positive airway pressure treatment in very low birthweight infants: a randomised control study.
To compare the incidence of nasal trauma associated with the use of prong or mask during nasal continuous positive airway pressure (nCPAP) support in very low birthweight (<1501 g) infants. ⋯ Irrespective of the type of nasal device used, nasal trauma is common during nCPAP treatment, which should therefore be terminated as soon as possible.