Developmental Disability at School Age and Difficulty Obtaining Follow-up Data.

Background: The relationship of developmental disability rates with difficulty obtaining follow-up data is unclear. With this study, we aimed to determine if children who attended research follow-up assessments with more difficulty had more disability at school age, compared with those who attended with less difficulty, and to establish the relationship between follow-up and disability rates.

Methods: Two groups, comprising 219 consecutive survivors born at <28 weeks' gestation or at <1000 g birth weight in the state of Victoria, Australia, in 2005, and 218 term-born, normal birth weight controls were assessed at 8 years of age for neurodevelopmental disability (any of IQ <-1 SD, cerebral palsy, blindness, or deafness).

Changing Neurodevelopment at 8 Years in Children Born Extremely Preterm Since the 1990s.

Background And Objective: Survival of extremely preterm (EP; <28 weeks' gestation) infants has increased over the last 2 decades. Equivalent reductions in developmental morbidity in early childhood have not been consistently reported. The aim of this study was to determine trends in neurodevelopmental outcomes at 8 years of age of children born EP (22-27 completed weeks' gestation) over the past 2 decades.

Ventilation in Extremely Preterm Infants and Respiratory Function at 8 Years.

Background: Assisted ventilation for extremely preterm infants (<28 weeks of gestation) has become less invasive, but it is unclear whether such developments in care are associated with improvements in short-term or long-term lung function. We compared changes over time in the use of assisted ventilation and oxygen therapy during the newborn period and in lung function at 8 years of age in children whose birth was extremely premature.

Methods: We conducted longitudinal follow-up of all survivors of extremely preterm birth who were born in Victoria, Australia, in three periods - the years 1991 and 1992 (225 infants), 1997 (151 infants), and 2005 (170 infants).

Clearance of infant vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecium carriage after a neonatal inpatient outbreak.

A follow-up cohort study was undertaken to document clearance of fecal vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecium carriage in 19 infants colonized during a hospital outbreak. By the conclusion of the 14-month study period, all participants had returned terminal negative fecal specimens, supporting the hypothesis that carriage is transient in this population.

Outbreak of vanB vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecium colonization in a neonatal service.

Objective: To describe successful termination of an outbreak of vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecium (VREfm) colonization within a neonatal service.

Setting: Multisite neonatal intensive care unit and special care nurseries within a single health care service.

Participants: Forty-four cases of VREfm-colonized neonatal inpatients-including 2 clinical isolates (eye swab and catheter-urine specimen) and 42 screening isolates.

Growth of extremely preterm survivors from birth to 18 years of age compared with term controls.

Objectives: To determine changes in height, weight, and BMI of extremely preterm (EPT; gestational age <28 completed weeks) survivors from birth to 18 years of age, compared with term controls.

Methods: Birth, discharge, and follow-up at ages 2, 5, 8, and 18 years of consecutive EPT survivors and contemporaneous term controls born in 1991-1992 in Victoria, Australia. Weight, height, and BMI were converted to z scores and compared between groups.

Procedural training opportunities for basic pediatric trainees during a 6-month rotation in a level III perinatal centre in Australia.

Objective: We aimed to evaluate the procedural training opportunities for basic paediatric trainees in a large tertiary perinatal centre in Australia, to facilitate a realistic expectation of the procedural skills acquired during a 6-month training period.

Methods: A prospective study in which all neonatal registrars and fellows anonymously documented their opportunities for procedural practice (including IV cannulation, intubation, umbilical lines insertion etc) for each shift during a calender month. Based on the averaged number of each shift type worked in a 6-month rotation, the total exposure to each procedure for one 6-month rotation was calculated.

Doppler manifestations of ductal steal: role in decision making.

Patent ductus arteriosus in extremely premature babies is associated with major neonatal morbidities such as necrotizing enterocolitis and intraventricular haemorrhage. Altered systemic blood flow and end-organ hypoperfusion are known associates of a haemodynamically significant ductus arteriosus where descending aorta blood flow profiles may reveal abnormal diastolic retrograde flow. A preterm neonate was noted to have a large symptomatic patent ductus arteriosus with reversal of diastolic flow in the superior mesenteric vessels.

Survey of management of neonatal haemolytic jaundice in Australasia.

Background: Haemolytic jaundice is an important entity in neonatal clinical practice. Because of the decrease in rhesus isoimmunisation since the advent of anti-D immunoglobulin and improved antenatal management strategies, its management in the neonatal period has become less intensive and exchange transfusions rarely performed.

Aim: We planned to review the practice of Australasian perinatal units in light of recent advances and recommendations.

Bilious vomiting in the newborn: 6 years data from a Level III Centre.

Background: Bilious vomiting in the newborn is an urgent condition that frequently requires neonatal and paediatric surgical involvement. Investigations involve abdominal X-ray and contrast imaging in most cases. We aimed to describe the prevalence of surgical intervention in this cohort and assess the reliability of contrast imaging in accurate prediction of underlying condition.