Malignant pertussis in infants: factors associated with mortality in a multicenter cohort study.

Background: Malignant pertussis (MP) affects young infants and is characterized by respiratory distress, perpetual tachycardia and hyperleukocytosis up to 50 G/l, leading to multiple organ failure and death in 75% of cases. Leukodepletion may improve prognosis. A therapeutic strategy based on leukodepletion and extracorporeal life support (ECLS) according to different thresholds of leucocytes has been proposed by Rowlands and colleagues.

Early Inflammatory Markers for the Diagnosis of Late-Onset Sepsis in Neonates: The Nosodiag Study.

Early diagnosis is essential to improve the treatment and prognosis of newborn infants with nosocomial bacterial infections. Although cytokines and procalcitonin (PCT) have been evaluated as early inflammatory markers, their diagnostic properties have rarely been compared. This study evaluated and compared the ability of individual inflammatory markers available for clinician (PCT, semi-quantitative determination of IL-8) and of combinations of markers (CRP plus IL-6 or quantitative or semi-quantitative determination of IL-8) to diagnose bacterial nosocomial infections in neonates.

A clinic-biological score for diagnosing early-onset neonatal infection in critically ill preterm infants.

Objective: To identify the best combination of serum cytokines and clinical parameters to diagnose rapidly early-onset neonatal infection (EONI) in critically ill preterm infants. At birth, most critically ill neonates are receiving broad-spectrum antibiotics pending bacterial culture results, because distinguishing infected from noninfected infants at birth is difficult.

Design: Prospective study.

Efficacy of propranolol in hepatic infantile hemangiomas with diffuse neonatal hemangiomatosis.

We report the rapid and dramatic efficacy of propranolol in 8 infants with infantile hepatic hemangiomas. The degree of response varied from a significant improvement to a complete resolution of hepatic lesions. Heart failure and hypothyroidism resolved, and hepatomegaly decreased.

Factors affecting postnatal changes in serum creatinine in preterm infants with gestational age <32 weeks.

Objective: The Aim of this study was to investigate maternal and neonatal factors associated with serum creatinine (SeCr) changes in a representative cohort of preterm newborns during their first week of life.

Study Design: Retrospective study. All the infants born less than 32 weeks of gestational age (GA) and cared for in our neonatal intensive care unit between January 2001 and December 2005 were eligible for the analysis.