Early urinary aldosterone excretion in very low birth weight infants.

Unlabelled: HYPOTHESIS/ INTRODUCTION: In the neonatal period, many factors may interfere with aldosterone production but data currently available are few and controversial. In this study we aim to assess the early urinary aldosterone excretion (UAE) in very low birth weight (VLBW) infants and to identify some possible clinical and biochemical variables that may influence this excretion.

Materials And Methods: We conducted a prospective study in 30 VLBW infants.

Analysis of risk factors for progression to treatment-requiring ROP in a single neonatal intensive care unit: is the exposure time relevant?

Objective: Retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) is a multifactorial disease whose pathogenesis is organized in two phases. We hypothesized that postnatal risk factors may differently exert their effect in a phase dependent way.

Methods: Data obtained from medical records of 93 very low birth weight neonates with stage ≥ 3 ROP were analyzed.

Effectiveness of ketorolac tromethamine in prevention of severe retinopathy of prematurity.

Purpose: This study assessed the effectiveness of the use of ketorolac tromethamine to reduce retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) incidence and its progression to more severe forms.

Methods: Forty-seven preterm newborn infants with a birth weight (BW) of 1,000 grams or less and/or a gestational age (GA) of 29 weeks or less were enrolled in the study when avascular retina zone I or ROP any stage were diagnosed at screening. Studied infants were randomized to receive ketorolac tromethamine ophthalmic solution in one eye and a drop of placebo in the other eye, until ROP requiring treatment or full retinal vascularization was diagnosed.

Chest physiotherapy in preterm infants with lung diseases.

Background: In neonatology the role of chest physiotherapy is still uncertain because of the controversial outcomes.

Methods: The aim of this study was to test the applicability in preterm infants of 'reflex rolling', from the Vojta method, in preterm neonates with lung pathology, with particular attention to the effects on blood gases and oxygen saturation, on the spontaneous breathing, on the onset of stress or pain. The study included 34 preterm newborns with mean gestational age of 30.

Neonatal colour Doppler ultrasound study: normal values of abdominal blood flow velocities in the neonate during the first month of life.

Background: Doppler US to measure abdominal blood flow velocities (ABFV) is increasingly used to investigate intestinal haemodynamics in several clinical conditions in neonates. Studies that provide reference values of ABFV during the entire neonatal period are currently lacking.

Objective: To make available normal reference values of ABFV and Doppler indices in the coeliac trunk and superior mesenteric artery during the first month of life in term and healthy preterm infants.