Formal training in general movement assessment is required to effectively evaluate infants with perinatal asphyxia in outpatient settings.

Aim: General movement assessment (GMA) can help to identify children with a high risk of developing neurological dysfunction, such as cerebral palsy, and certified training is provided in this specialism. The aim of this study was to investigate the feasibility and reliability of using video recordings to assess GMA, in a busy Danish outpatient clinic.

Methods: The study comprised 30-term infants born with perinatal asphyxia, who were video recorded at three months.

[Induced hypothermia in infants born with hypoxic-ischaemic encephalopathy].

Introduction: Randomised studies have demonstrated the efficacy of hypothermia for the treatment of perinatal hypoxic-ischaemic encephalopathy (HIE) in term or late preterm infants. In August 2006, the Neonatology Department at Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen, introduced total body cooling for infants born at term with HIE.

Material And Methods: This retrospective study comprises data from medical records of newborn children born with HIE during a period of 32 months.

Red blood cell antibodies in pregnancy and their clinical consequences: synergistic effects of multiple specificities.

Background: The objective was to determine clinical consequences of various specificities for the infant/fetus. The population was patients referred between 1998 and 2005 to the tertiary center because of detected red blood cell (RBC) alloimmunization. Altogether 455 infants were delivered by 390 alloimmunized women.

[Omphalitis with fatal outcome in new-born baby boy].

Omphalitis is a serious condition with important morbidity and mortality, especially in developing countries. The most commonly involved micro-organisms are Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. We describe a Danish patient with cellulitis, severe septicaemia, and portal vein thrombosis as fatal complications of omphalitis.

[Vein of Galen aneurysm diagnosed in the perinatal period. A retrospective assessment].

Introduction: A vein of Galen aneurysm (VGA) is a rare, congenital, intracranial vascular malformation often diagnosed in the perinatal period. In recent years there have been international reportings of good results after endovascular embolization during the first year of life.

Materials And Methods: In this paper the clinical course of 10 children born in Denmark with perinatal presentation of VGA is reviewed.

[Chronic lung disease in a cohort of children born before the 28th gestational week. Incidence and etiological factors].

Introduction: Advances in perinatal care have increased the survival rate of extremely preterm (ETP) infants during the last decades. A key factor has been the ability to provide respiratory support with mechanical ventilation. Mechanical ventilation, however, is associated with pulmonary disease, such as bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD).

Developmental delay at 12 months in children born extremely preterm.

Aim: To evaluate the feasibility and validity of a structured telephone interview to assess the development of children born extremely preterm.

Methods: The parents of 88 children born with a gestational age below 28 wk admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) at Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen, were interviewed by telephone when their child was 1 y of age, corrected for preterm birth. A fully structured questionnaire on psychomotor function was used (Revised Prescreening Developmental Questionnaire (R-PDQ)).

Doxapram and developmental delay at 12 months in children born extremely preterm.

Aim: To examine the relation of doxapram to a developmental score achieved by a structured telephone interview in a group of extremely-preterm-born children.

Methods: Parents of 88 children born extremely preterm were contacted by telephone and interviewed by a structured questionnaire (R-PDQ) when the corrected age of their child was 9-15 mo.

Results: We found that doxapram treatment was associated with a deficit in age-adjusted R-PDQ score.

The Danish national study in infants with extremely low gestational age and birthweight (the ETFOL study): respiratory morbidity and outcome.

Aim: To describe and analyse neonatal care, short and long-term morbidity with special reference to ventilatory support and chronic lung disease (CLD) in a population-based study.

Methods: During 1994 and 1995 a prospective, nation-wide, multicentre study was conducted, comprising 477 liveborn infants with gestational age (GA) < 28 wk and/or birthweight < 1000 g. Of these, 407 infants received active treatment.

Perinatal risk factors of adverse outcome in very preterm children: a role of initial treatment of respiratory insufficiency?

Aim: To investigate risk factors of adverse outcome in a cohort of very preterm children treated mainly with nasal continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) during the neonatal course.

Methods: In Denmark, preterm children are treated with nasal CPAP as a first approach to respiratory support. A national prospective study of all infants with a birthweight below 1000 g or a gestational age below 28 wk born in 1994-1995 was initiated to evaluate this approach.

N-acetylcysteine does not prevent bronchopulmonary dysplasia in immature infants: a randomized controlled trial.

Objective: To evaluate whether N-acetylcysteine (NAC) infusion during the first week of life reduces the risk of death or bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) in infants with extremely low birth weight. Study design In a Nordic multicenter, double-blind trial, infants (n=391) weighing 500 to 999 g and on ventilator or nasal continuous positive airway pressure were randomized before the age of 36 hours to receive NAC 16 to 32 mg/kg/d (n=194) or placebo (n=197) intravenously for 6 days. Primary end points were death or BPD, defined as supplementary oxygen requirement at 36 weeks' gestational age.

[Importance of n-3 and n-6 fatty acids for visual function and development in newborn infants].

Long-chain polyunsaturated n-3 and n-6 fatty acids are present in human milk, but not in the majority of infant formulas sold in Denmark. The content of the n-3 fatty acid DHA is high in retinal tissue and cerebral cortex. A number of studies have suggested that the content of DHA has a positive influence on the function of cell membranes.

Supplementary feeding in the maternity ward shortens the duration of breast feeding.

In a prospective study, feeding routines of a maternity unit and the subsequent feeding patterns of 521 newborns were analysed. During the stay in the maternity unit, 69% of newborns were exclusively breast fed and 1% received only donor's milk from the milk bank and/or formula. Nine percent received their mothers' milk by bottle at least once and 21% received one or more supplementary feedings with donor's milk from the milk bank.

[Chronic congenital neutropenia treated with granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF)].

Kostmann's syndrome is a congenital disorder characterized by persistent severe neutropenia. It has a high morbidity and mortality on account of serious bacterial infection. A case which was successfully treated with G-CSF is reported.

[3 cases of visceral leishmaniasis, one in a HIV-positive man].

Three cases of visceral leishmaniasis (kala-azar) are presented. One of these was in a 43-year-old patient with AIDS who was infected in Southern Spain. Another was in a man aged 25 years infected in West Africa.