Neonatal Hyperbilirubinemia: An Updated Appraisal of National Guidelines.

Recent reports from several developed countries have documented a resurgence of bilirubin encephalopathy causing both healthcare and forensic issues. For these reasons, many national pediatric societies have issued recommendations on the diagnosis and the treatment of clinically significant neonatal hyperbilirubinemia. The differences among individual national documents may have an impact on neonatal healthcare.

Lung recruitment before surfactant administration in extremely preterm neonates with respiratory distress syndrome (IN-REC-SUR-E): a randomised, unblinded, controlled trial.

Background: The importance of lung recruitment before surfactant administration has been shown in animal studies. Well designed trials in preterm infants are absent. We aimed to examine whether the application of a recruitment manoeuvre just before surfactant administration, followed by rapid extubation (intubate-recruit-surfactant-extubate [IN-REC-SUR-E]), decreased the need for mechanical ventilation during the first 72 h of life compared with no recruitment manoeuvre (ie, intubate-surfactant-extubate [IN-SUR-E]).

Efficacy of a new technique - INtubate-RECruit-SURfactant-Extubate - "IN-REC-SUR-E" - in preterm neonates with respiratory distress syndrome: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial.

Background: Although beneficial in clinical practice, the INtubate-SURfactant-Extubate (IN-SUR-E) method is not successful in all preterm neonates with respiratory distress syndrome, with a reported failure rate ranging from 19 to 69 %. One of the possible mechanisms responsible for the unsuccessful IN-SUR-E method, requiring subsequent re-intubation and mechanical ventilation, is the inability of the preterm lung to achieve and maintain an "optimal" functional residual capacity. The importance of lung recruitment before surfactant administration has been demonstrated in animal studies showing that recruitment leads to a more homogeneous surfactant distribution within the lungs.

Lung Ultrasound for Diagnosing Pneumothorax in the Critically Ill Neonate.

Objectives: To evaluate the accuracy of lung ultrasound for the diagnosis of pneumothorax in the sudden decompensating patient.

Study Design: In an international, prospective study, sudden decompensation was defined as a prolonged significant desaturation (oxygen saturation <65% for more than 40 seconds) and bradycardia or sudden increase of oxygen requirement by at least 50% in less than 10 minutes with a final fraction of inspired oxygen ≥0.7 to keep stable saturations.

Preterm birth, respiratory failure and BPD: which neonatal management?

Preterm birth is a significant problem in the world regarding perinatal mortality and morbidity in the long term, especially bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD). Premature delivery is often associated to failure in transition to create an early functional residual capacity (FRC), since many preterm babies need frequently respiratory support. The first and most effective preventive measure to reduce the incidence of BPD is represented by the attempt to avoid preterm birth.

Recurrence of CCHS associated PHOX2B poly-alanine expansion mutation due to maternal mosaicism.

Heterozygous in frame trinucleotide duplications within the PHOX2B gene, leading to poly-alanine expansions, cause Congenital Central Hypoventilation Syndrome. Here we report about a CCHS patient, carrying a +13Ala PHOX2B expansion, whose asymptomatic mother resulted with a low level of mosaicism for the same mutation in peripheral blood cells. Her second pregnancy ended with the spontaneous miscarriage of a fetus who had inherited the PHOX2B mutation, thus confirming germline mosaicism in the mother and the need of proper genetic counseling to CCHS families.

First year follow-up of extremely low birth weight premature sextuplets: case report.

High order gestation rates have increased in many western countries in the last decades, which is mostly attributable to a contemporaneous increase in maternal age and infertility treatment. Multiple births have been associated with increased maternal and foetal morbidity and mortality during pregnancy and delivery, including the higher risk for spontaneous abortion, preeclampsia, hydramnios, and maternal haemorrhage. A higher frequency of preterm infants and low birth weight infants have also been reported, as well as a higher rate of malformations, abnormal growth, and trauma at delivery, than in singleton pregnancies.