Routine Echocardiography is not Required in Neonates with Arterial Ischemic Stroke.

OBJECTIVE: Current guidelines suggest routine echocardiography (ECHO) in the acute phase to exclude a cardiac source for neonatal arterial ischemic stroke (NAIS). However, the commonly assumed embolic origin from a cardiac source for NAIS is challenged and the need for ECHO in NAIS remains questionable, especially during the era of standard fetal anomaly scanning. Our hypothesis is that any complex cardiac defects potentially causing NAIS would likely be detected during routine prenatal scans, thus possibly making routine postnatal ECHO redundant. This study aimed to determine the prevalence of significant cardiac risk factors and evaluate the necessity of routine postnatal ECHO in NAIS during the routine use of prenatal fetal sonography. STUDY DESIGN: Retrospective review of 54 infants diagnosed with NAIS via brain magnetic resonance imaging who underwent an ECHO evaluation during the acute period to exclude potential cardiac origins for NAIS. RESULTS: Postnatal ECHO revealed no intracardiac thrombus or vegetation, and only identified structural heart anomalies in three (5%) infants. Interestingly, these three cases had already been diagnosed with syndromic conditions or chromosomal malformations prenatally. In the remaining infants, postnatal ECHO was either normal or showed minor abnormalities unlikely to have contributed to the stroke. The detection rates of complex cardiac anomalies from prenatal scans and postnatal ECHO were statistically similar (p = 0.617). CONCLUSION: The probability of ECHO to exclude cardiac sources for NAIS is so low that in the era of standard fetal anomaly scanning, routine postnatal ECHO may not be necessary for all NAIS infants, except when chromosomal malformations are detected. KEY POINTS: · Guidelines recommend an acute phase ECHO to identify a cardiac source of NAIS.. · ECHO not effective at excluding NAIS's cardiac origin for infants with normal fetal scans.. · Routine postnatal ECHO is unnecessary in NAIS infants, except with genetic abnormalities..

Does Severity of Brain Injury on Magnetic Resonance Imaging Predict Short-Term Outcome in Neonates Who Received Therapeutic Hypothermia?

OBJECTIVE: The National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) pattern of brain injury is a known biomarker of childhood outcome following therapeutic hypothermia for neonatal hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE). However, usefulness of this classification has not been evaluated to predict short-term outcomes. The study aimed to test the hypothesis that infants with NICHD MRI pattern of severe hypoxic-ischemic brain injury will be sicker with more severe asphyxia-induced multiorgan dysfunction resulting in prolonged length of stay (LOS) following therapeutic hypothermia. We also evaluated the role of other risk factors which may prolong LOS. STUDY DESIGN: We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of 71 consecutively cooled neonates to examine the ability of MRI patterns of brain injury to predict the LOS. A neuroradiologist masked to outcomes classified the patterns of brain injury on MRI as per NICHD. Pattern 2A (basal ganglia thalamic, internal capsule, or watershed infarction), 2B (2A with cerebral lesions), and 3 (hemispheric devastation) of brain injury was deemed "severe injury." RESULTS: Out of 71 infants, 59 surviving infants had both MRI and LOS data. LOS was higher for infants who had Apgar's score of ≤5 at 10 minutes, severe HIE, seizures, coagulopathy, or needed vasopressors or inhaled nitric oxide, or had persistent feeding difficulty, or remained intubated following cooling. However, median LOS did not differ between the infants with and without MRI pattern of severe injury (15 days, interquartile range [IQR]: 9-28 vs. 12 days, IQR: 10-20; p = 0.4294). On multivariate linear regression analysis, only persistent feeding difficulty (ß coefficient = 11, p = 0.001; or LOS = 11 days longer if had feeding difficulty) and ventilator days (ß coefficient 1.7, p < 0.001; or LOS increased 1.7 times for each day of ventilator support) but not the severity of brain injury predicted LOS. CONCLUSION: Unlike neurodevelopmental outcome, LOS is not related to severity of brain injury as defined by the NICHD. KEY POINTS: · The NICHD pattern of brain injury on MRI predicts neurodevelopmental outcome following hypothermia treatment for neonatal HIE.. · LOS did not differ between the infants with and without MRI patterns of severe injury.. · The severity of brain injury as defined by the NICHD was not predictive of the LOS following therapeutic hypothermia..

Does maternal intrapartum antibiotic treatment prolong the incubation time required for blood cultures to become positive for infants with early-onset sepsis?

BACKGROUND: We hypothesized that maternal intrapartum antibiotic treatment delays the growth of the organism in the blood culture obtained during the work-up for infants with suspected early-onset sepsis (EOS). METHODS: Single center, retrospective review of infants with blood culture-proven EOS over 13.5 years period. EOS was defined by isolation of a pathogen from blood culture obtained within 72 hours of birth and antibiotic treatment for ≥ 5 days. RESULTS: Among 81 infants with positive blood cultures, 38 were deemed to have EOS and 43 were deemed contaminants. The organisms grown were as follows: Escherichia coli in 17 infants, Group B streptococcus in 10 infants, and others in 11 infants. Overall, 17 infants with EOS did not receive intrapartum antibiotics and had blood cultures drawn for being symptomatic after birth. The other 21 infants who received intrapartum antibiotics had blood culture drawn primarily for maternal chorioamnionitis. The median (interquartile range [IQR]) incubation time to blood culture positivity was not different in infants who received intrapartum antibiotics compared with infants who did not (19.6 hours, IQR 16-28 hours vs. 19.5 hours, IQR 17.2-21.6 hours, p = 0.7489). CONCLUSION: Maternal intrapartum antibiotic treatment did not delay the time to blood culture positivity in infants with EOS.

Relationship between acute kidney injury and brain MRI findings in asphyxiated newborns after therapeutic hypothermia.

BACKGROUND: We hypothesized that acute kidney injury (AKI) in asphyxiated neonates treated with therapeutic hypothermia would be associated with hypoxic-ischemic lesions on brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). METHODS: Medical records of 88 cooled neonates who had had brain MRI were reviewed. All neonates had serum creatinine assessed before the start of cooling; at 24, 48, and 72 h through cooling; and then on day 5 or 7 of life. A neonatal modification of the Kidney Disease: Improving Global Outcomes guidelines was used to classify AKI. MRI images were evaluated by a neuroradiologist masked to outcomes. Outcome of interest was abnormal brain MRI at 7-10 d of life. RESULTS: AKI was found in 34 (39%) of 88 neonates, with 15, 7, and 12 fulfilling criteria for stages 1, 2, and 3, respectively. Brain MRI abnormalities related to hypoxia-ischemia were present in 50 (59%) newborns. Abnormal MRI was more frequent in infants from the AKI group (AKI: 25 of 34, 73% vs. no AKI: 25 of 54, 46%; P = 0.012; odds ratio (OR) = 3.2; 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.3-8.2). Multivariate analysis identified AKI (OR = 2.9; 95% CI = 1.1-7.6) to be independently associated with the primary outcome. CONCLUSION: AKI is independently associated with the presence of hypoxic-ischemic lesions on postcooling brain MRI.

Esophageal and rectal temperatures as estimates of core temperature during therapeutic whole-body hypothermia.

We monitored whole-body cooling concurrently by both esophageal and rectal probes. Esophageal temperature was significantly higher compared with simultaneous rectal temperature during cooling, with a temperature gradient ranging from 0.46 to 1.03°C (median, 0.8°C; IQR, 0.6-0.8°C). During rewarming, this temperature difference disappeared.

The relationship between clinically identifiable intrapartum sentinel events and short-term outcome after therapeutic hypothermia.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the impact of intrapartum sentinel events on short-term outcome post-hypothermia. STUDY DESIGN: Records of 77 infants of 36 weeks' gestation or more, who received therapeutic hypothermia, were reviewed. Some were delivered after a clinically identifiable intrapartum sentinel event (IISE). All survivors had brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) at 7 to 10 days of life. The primary outcome of neonatal death related to hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy was compared in infants born with (n = 39) or without an IISE (n = 38). MRI abnormalities were also compared. Logistic regression analysis was used to determine the variables predicting the primary outcome. RESULTS: The two groups had similar Apgar scores, initial blood pHs, and early neurologic examinations. Base deficit was more severe in the IISE group. Neonatal death and hypoxic-ischemic injury was shown on brain MRI with basal nuclei, cortical, and subcortical white matter lesions extending beyond the watershed areas in infants surviving beyond the neonatal period were more common in the IISE group (P = .014; OR 11.1; 95% CI 1.3-92.6; and P = .034; OR 4.1; 95% CI 1.1-14.9, respectively). Multivariate analysis identified IISE (P = .023; OR 12.2; 95% CI 1.4-105.8) to be independently associated with neonatal death. CONCLUSIONS: IISEs are associated with neonatal death and severe injury as shown in brain MRI, even after hypothermia.

Pulmonary dysfunction and therapeutic hypothermia in asphyxiated newborns: whole body versus selective head cooling.

Compared with whole body cooling (WBC), selective head cooling (SHC) of asphyxiated newborns presumably allows effective brain cooling with less systemic hypothermia and potentially fewer systemic adverse effects. It is not known if pulmonary dysfunction, one of the potential adverse systemic effects of therapeutic hypothermic neuroprotection, differs with the method of cooling. We sought to investigate if pulmonary mechanics and gas exchange during therapeutic hypothermia differ between WBC and SHC. The severity of pulmonary dysfunction was determined in 59 asphyxiated newborns receiving therapeutic hypothermic neuroprotection by either SHC ( N = 31) or WBC ( N = 28). Ventilatory parameters and simultaneous alveolar-arterial oxygen gradient (A-a DO (2)) and partial pressure of carbon dioxide, arterial (PaCO (2)) were measured before the start of cooling (baseline), and at 4, 8, 12, 24, 48, and 72 hours of cooling. The diagnosis of persistent pulmonary hypertension of the newborn (PPHN) was established by echocardiography. Clinical monitoring and treatment during cooling, whether SHC or WBC, were similar. All (96%) but two infants (from the SHC group) required mechanical ventilation of varying duration during cooling, and nine infants (15%) developed PPHN. The baseline ventilator pressures requirement, and A-a DO (2) were similar among the 48 ventilated infants without PPHN (WBC 23, SHC 25) at the start of cooling. Ventilatory requirements remained modest and did not differ with the method of cooling. Similar numbers of infants without PPHN were able to be extubated after improvement in respiratory status while being cooled (WBC 42.8% versus SHC 37.9%, P = 0.79, odds ratio [OR] 1.2, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.4 to 3.5). Nine infants (WBC 5, SHC 4) developed PPHN. Six of the nine (WBC 4, SHC 2) required inhaled nitric oxide therapy, and one infant from the WBC group subsequently required extracorporeal membrane oxygenation. The incidence of PPHN was similar in both the WBC and SHC groups (17.8% versus 12.9%, P = 0.72, OR 1.5, 95% CI 0.3 to 6.1). Pulmonary dysfunction is common but not severe in asphyxiated infants during therapeutic hypothermia. Pulmonary mechanics and gas exchange do not differ with the method of achieving hypothermia.

Severe intraventricular hemorrhage in preterm infants: comparison of risk factors and short-term neonatal morbidities between grade 3 and grade 4 intraventricular hemorrhage.

Grade 3 intraventricular hemorrhage (IVH) (without parenchymal involvement) and grade 4 IVH (with parenchymal involvement) are often combined into description of a single entity, usually "severe" IVH, despite different long-term neurodevelopmental outcome. Although risk factors for severe IVH have already been well described, it is not known if these risk factors and associated short-term neonatal morbidities are different for grade 3 and grade 4 IVH, and indeed, this clustering of grade 3 and grade 4 IVH into severe IVH precludes further delineation of the potential risk and protective factors that can be altered to reduce the incidence of grade 4 IVH, which is presumably associated with worse outcome compared with grade 3 IVH. We sought to characterize and compare commonly cited risk factors and associated short-term neonatal morbidities between grade 3 and grade 4 IVH in very low-birth-weight (VLBW) infants. We performed a retrospective review of VLBW (birth weight < 1500 g) infants with severe IVH born between January 2001 and March 2007. Fifty-nine (10.5%) of 562 infants surviving beyond 3 days of age had severe IVH as recorded on routine cranial sonography during the first 7 to 10 days of life, 28 had grade 3, and 31 had grade 4 IVH. Infants with grade 4 IVH were younger [gestational age (weeks), grade 4 IVH versus grade 3 IVH: 25.5 +/- 1.7 versus 26.7 +/- 1.7, p = 0.02) and weighed less at birth [birth weight (g), grade 4 IVH versus grade 3 IVH: 860 +/- 214 versus 1007 +/- 253, p = 0.03) compared with infants with grade 3 IVH. Other commonly cited clinical factors that alter the risk for severe IVH, including mode of delivery, pregnancy-induced hypertension, premature and/or prolonged rupture of membranes, maternal fever, maternal bleeding, prenatal steroid administration, maternal magnesium sulfate therapy, 1-minute and 5-minute Apgar scores, need for delivery room resuscitation (epinephrine and chest compressions), surfactant therapy, presence of refractory hypotension, evidence of early onset culture-proven sepsis, use of high-frequency ventilation, presence of pneumothorax, and hemodynamically significant patent ductus arteriosus, were similar between infants with grade 3 and grade 4 IVH. Carbon dioxide tensions (minimum PaC (2), maximum PaCO(2), mean PaCO(2), standard deviation of PaCO(2), and coefficient of variation of PaCO (2)) in infants receiving mechanical ventilation during first 3 postnatal days were also not statistically dissimilar. To determine the variables differentiating grade 3 from grade 4 IVH in the study population, logistic regression analysis confirmed only the independent association of gestational age (odds ratio [OR] 0.6, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.5 to 0.9, P = 0.012) and maternal magnesium sulfate therapy (OR 0.3, 95% CI 0.07 to 0.9, P = 0.04) with the development of grade 4 IVH. Short-term neonatal morbidities were also similar between infants with grade 3 and grade 4 IVH. Among VLBW infants, the risk of a grade 4 versus grade 3 IVH increases with declining gestational age, but does not appear to be related to other commonly cited clinical factors. This information may be useful for prognostication and may improve the quality of parental counseling.

Multiple Organ Dysfunction During Therapeutic Cooling of Asphyxiated Infants.

The main purpose of therapeutic cooling is neuroprotection of asphyxiated infants with significant hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy. However, to improve the overall outcome, it is necessary to properly manage the full range of multiple organ system complications found in asphyxiated infants undergoing therapeutic cooling. Every physiologic process in an asphyxiated infant can potentially be affected by the cooling treatment. The purpose of this review is to discuss the effect of cooling on neonatal physiology in the current recommended cooling range and the management thereof.

Newborn With Enlarged Erythematous Mass on Back: Case Report and Review of Medical Literature.

Newborn skin nodules are usually benign and self-resolving skin condition. Differential diagnosis of such lesions include cysts, hemangioma, abscess, cellulitis, sclerema neonatorum, subcutaneous fat necrosis, neurofibromatosis, benign tumors, or malignant tumors such as rhabdomyosarcoma, infantile fibrosarcoma, or neuroblastoma. We report a case of congenital subcutaneous fat necrosis in a 7-day-old baby presenting with multiple erythematous mass on back.

Distribution and severity of hypoxic-ischaemic lesions on brain MRI following therapeutic cooling: selective head versus whole body cooling.

BACKGROUND: Whole body cooling (WBC) cools different parts of the brain uniformly, and selective head cooling (SHC) cools the superficial brain more than the deeper brain structures. In this study, the authors hypothesised that the hypoxic-ischaemic lesions on brain MRI following cooling would differ between modalities of cooling. AIM: To compare the frequency, distribution and severity of hypoxic-ischaemic lesions on brain MRI between SHC or WBC. METHODS: In a single centre retrospective study, 83 infants consecutively cooled using either SHC (n=34) or WBC (n=49) underwent brain MRI. MRI images were evaluated by a neuroradiologist, who was masked to clinical parameters and outcomes, using a basal ganglia/watershed (BG/W) scoring system. Higher scores (on a scale of 0 to 4) were given for more extensive injury. The score has been reported to be predictive of neuromotor and cognitive outcome at 12 months. RESULTS: The two groups were similar for severity of depression as assessed by a history of an intrapartum sentinel event, Apgar scores, initial blood pH and base deficit and early neurological examination. However, abnormal MRI was more frequent in the SHC group (SHC 25 of 34, 74% vs WBC 22 of 49, 45%; p=0.0132, OR 3.4, 95% CI 1.3 to 8.8). Infants from the SHC group also had more severe hypoxic-ischaemic lesions (median BG/W score: SHC 2 vs WBC 0, p=0.0014). CONCLUSIONS: Hypoxic-ischaemic lesions on brain MRI following therapeutic cooling were more frequent and more severe with SHC compared with WBC.

Predicting death despite therapeutic hypothermia in infants with hypoxic-ischaemic encephalopathy.

OBJECTIVE: To determine precooling attributes possibly predicting death in infants with hypoxic-ischaemic encephalopathy (HIE) despite therapeutic cooling. METHODS: Eighty-five consecutive infants of ≥36 weeks' gestation who received cooling for HIE were reviewed. Logistic regression analysis was performed using precooling clinical and laboratory variables with death related to HIE during the first 9 months of life as the primary outcome. RESULTS: Thirteen (15%) of the 85 infants died during 9-18 months of follow-up despite cooling. 27 of the 85 were asystolic at birth but only 12 had Apgar scores of zero at both 5 and 10 min. Univariate analysis identified Apgar scores of zero at 5 and 10 min, pH <6.7, base deficit >22 mmol/l, and absent spontaneous movement as significantly associated with death during the first 9 months despite cooling. On multivariate analysis, only the Apgar score of zero at 10 min (p<0.001, OR 51.7, 95% CI 9.9 to 269.5) remained significantly associated with the primary outcome of death from HIE. Of the 12 infants who were asystolic at and beyond 10 min of life, nine died from HIE, two had spastic quadriparesis and global delay at 18-24 months, and one had extensive encephalomalacia on brain MRI during follow-up. CONCLUSIONS: Of the selected precooling variables, only the 10 min Apgar score is independently associated with death despite therapeutic cooling in infants with HIE. Infants who remain asystolic at 10 min and beyond are unlikely to survive despite cooling, and the rare survivor is likely to have severe disability.