Survival and healthcare utilization of infants diagnosed with lethal congenital malformations.

Objective: We assessed survival, hospital length of stay (LOS), and costs of medical care for infants with lethal congenital malformations, and also examined the relationship between medical and surgical therapies and survival.

Study Design: Retrospective cohort study including infants born 1998-2009 with lethal congenital malformations, identified using a longitudinally linked maternal/infant database.

Results: The cohort included 786 infants: trisomy 18 (T18, n = 350), trisomy 13 (T13, n = 206), anencephaly (n = 125), bilateral renal agenesis (n = 53), thanatophoric dysplasia/achondrogenesis/lethal osteogenesis imperfecta (n = 38), and infants > 1 of the birth defects (n = 14).

Long-term reparative effects of mesenchymal stem cell therapy following neonatal hyperoxia-induced lung injury.

Background: Mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) therapy may prevent neonatal hyperoxia-induced lung injury (HILI). There are, however, no clear data on the therapeutic efficacy of MSC therapy in established HILI, the duration of the reparative effects, and the exact mechanisms of repair. The main objective of this study was to evaluate whether the long-term reparative effects of a single intratracheal (IT) dose of MSCs or MSC-conditioned medium (CM) are comparable in established HILI.

Intractable neonatal seizures: an unusual presentation of congenital hypothyroidism.

Congenital hypothyroidism is the most common treatable cause of mental retardation. We report an unusual case of congenital hypothyroidism presenting as intractable seizures in an infant delivered to a mother known to have autoimmune hypothyroidism and who was noncompliant with therapy. To our knowledge, this rare presentation of congenital hypothyroidism has not been reported previously.