Postponing or eliminating red blood cell transfusions of very low birth weight neonates by obtaining all baseline laboratory blood tests from otherwise discarded fetal blood in the placenta.

Background: Safely reducing the proportion of very low birth weight neonates (<1500 g) that receive a red blood cell (RBC) transfusion would be an advance in transfusion practice.

Study Design And Methods: We performed a prospective, single-centered, case-control, feasibility analysis, preparatory to designing a definitive trial. Specifically, we sought to determine whether we could obtain all baseline neonatal intensive care unit blood tests from the placenta, after placental delivery, thereby initially drawing no blood from the neonate.

Lansoprazole, ranitidine, and metoclopramide: comparison of practice patterns at 4 level III NICUs within one healthcare system.

Purpose: Evidence is needed to guide NICU use of lansoprazole (Prevacid), ranitidine (Zantac), and metoclopramide (Reglan). As a step toward that goal, we conducted a historic cohort analysis of all patients who received any of these medications in 4 Intermountain Healthcare NICUs during the year 2006.

Subjects: Data were obtained from all patients admitted between January 1 and December 31, 2006, to any of 4 Intermountain Healthcare NICUs.

An unusual case of severe neonatal thrombocytopenia.

Neonatal alloimmune thrombocytopenia (NAIT) occurs when maternal antibodies are directed against antigens on fetal and paternal but not maternal platelets. Most cases of NAIT arise when platelets of the father (and the fetus) express the human platelet antigen (HPA)1a and the mother's platelets expresses HPA-1b. A female patient presented with congenital severe thrombocytopenia and received 4 platelet transfusions, on days 2, 7, 16, and 28.

A phase 1 trial testing an enteral solution patterned after human amniotic fluid to treat feeding intolerance.

Objective: Feeding intolerance is a common problem in neonates; in some cases it may be related to atrophic changes in the small bowel mucosa. In these infants, feeding tolerance might improve after oral administration of enterocyte growth factors in a sterile, isotonic, noncaloric solution patterned after human amniotic fluid.

Study Design: Ten infants who met the study criteria for feeding intolerance were enrolled in this pilot trial.