Clinical and imaging features of premature infants with different degrees of bronchopulmonary dysplasia / 中国当代儿科杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To study the clinical and imaging features of premature infants with different degrees of bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD).</p><p><b>METHODS</b>A prospective study was performed on the clinical data of 59 premature infants (gestational age <32 weeks) with BPD. Among the 59 premature infants, 37 cases had mild BPD and the other 22 cases had moderate to severe BPD. The clinical and imaging data were compared between these premature infants with different degrees of BPD.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The durations of mechanical ventilation, oxygen therapy, antibiotic therapy, parenteral nutrition, and hospitalization in the moderate to severe group were significantly longer than those in the mild group (P<0.05). The incidence of nosocomial infection and number of times of red blood cell transfusion in the moderate to severe group were significantly higher than that in the mild group. The rates of X-ray changes, including grade I respiratory distress syndrome (1 day after birth) and hypolucency of lungs (4-10 days and ≥ 28 days after birth) were significantly higher in the mild group than in the moderate to severe group. The rates of X-ray changes in classical BPD stage III (4-10 days after birth) and IV (≥ 28 days after birth) were significantly higher in the moderate to severe group than in the mild group.</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>The durations of mechanical ventilation, oxygen therapy, and antibiotic therapy and the incidence of nosocomial infection are correlated with the severity of BPD. The premature infants with severer BPD need a longer duration of parenteral nutrition and more times of red blood cell transfusion and have more typical imaging changes of BPD. Imaging examination has a predictive value for the severity of BPD.</p>

Therapeutic effect of Ommaya reservoir implantation on hydrocephalus in premature infants following intraventricular hemorrhage and factors associted with the therapeutic effect / 中国当代儿科杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To observe the therapeutic effect of Ommaya reservoir implantation on hydrocephalus in premature infants following intraventricular hemorrhage (IVH) and to investigate factors influencing the therapeutic effect.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>An ambispective cohort study was conducted on the clinical and follow-up data of 20 premature infants (gestational age <32 weeks, birth weight <1500 g) who received Ommaya reservoir implantation because of hydrocephalus following IVH. The therapeutic effect of Ommaya reservoir implantation was observed. These patients were divided into cure and treatment failure groups according to their treatment outcomes. The factors influencing therapeutic effects were investigated by univariate analysis.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Hydrocephalus was relieved significantly at 30 days after Ommaya reservoir implantation. However, some patients showed significantly decreased therapeutic effects since 3 months after operation: during 3-6 months after operation, 7 cases underwent ventriculoperitoneal shunt, 4 cases discontinued treatment because of economic reasons, and 1 case underwent endoscopic third ventriculostomy due to scalp hematoma with skin necrosis. The ventricles of the remaining 8 cases returned to normal size at 12-18 months after operation. As for postoperative complications, secondary IVH was seen in 8 cases, intracranial infection in 2 cases, and scalp hematoma with skin necrosis in 1 case. The univariate analysis revealed significant differences in gestational age, birth weight and duration of hydrocephalus before Ommaya reservoir implantation between the cure and the treatment failure groups (P<0.05).</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>Ommaya reservoir implantation has a remarkable short-term therapeutic effect on hydrocephalus in premature infants following IVH, but later the effect decreases in some patients. Low gestational age, low birth weight and long duration of hydrocephalus may be the main factors influencing therapeutic effects of Ommaya reservoir implantation.</p>

Bedside diode laser photocoagulation for 103 cases with serious retinopathy of prematurity in NICU / 中华儿科杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To evaluate the efficacy and safety of the bedside diode laser photocoagulation for severe retinopathy of prematurity in neonatal intensive care unit (NICU).</p><p><b>METHOD</b>Data of 103 patients with prethreshold or threshold retinopathy of prematurity (ROP), treated with diode laser photoablation after vecuronium-induced anesthesia and mechanical ventilation from March 2009 to July 2011 in NICU of Bayi Children's Hospital.</p><p><b>RESULT</b>Totally 199 eyes in 103 patients received laser therapy with at least 5 months follow up. Among these eyes, zone I disease was found in 76 eyes (38.2%) of 39 infants, zone II disease was found in 123 eyes (61.8%)of 64 infants and additional disease was found in 180 eyes of 91 infants. After treatment 191 (96.0%) of 199 eyes had favorable outcomes and 8 developed to partial retinal detachment. The rate of favorable outcomes in zone I diseases and zone 2 diseases were 89.5% and 100% respectively. The laser therapy was undertaken in all patients safely and the use of ventilator was stopped quickly [after a mean of (6.7 ± 1.3) h].</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Bedside laser photocoagulation in NICU is a safe and effective treatment mode for severe ROP and should be used widely.</p>

Influence of premature rupture of membranes on neonatal health / 中华儿科杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To observe the influence of premature rupture of membranes (PROM) on neonatal health.</p><p><b>METHOD</b>A retrospective cohort study was conducted among 3320 in-patient newborns of Bayi Children's Hospital from October 2006 to March 2008. One hundred term newborns and one hundred preterm newborns with PROM were chosen to be compared with fifty normal term newborns and preterm newborns respectively. The data were analyzed with Minitab 12.0 software.</p><p><b>RESULT</b>Of the 3320 newborns, 711 (21.4%) were complicated with PROM. The morbidity of PROM was 21.4% (711/3320), among whom 9.69% (196/2022) were term newborns, 39.68% (515/1298) were preterm newborns, the differences between the term and the preterm newborns were statistically significant (P<0.001). Preterm newborns with PROM accounted for 72.43% of all PROM newborns (515/711). However, preterm infants only accounted for 30.01% of the newborns without PROM. Sixty-nine newborns with PROM had neonatal respiratory distress syndrome (RDS), incidence of which was 9.7% (69/711): 10 (5.1%) term newborns and 59 (11.5%) preterm newborns, of whom 3 developed broncho-pulmonary dysplasia Among all patients with PROM, 25% (178/711) newborns had different infectious diseases: 92 (12.9%) had pneumonia and 63 (8.9%) had septicemia, which totally accounted for 87.1% of the patients with infectious diseases, 23 (3.2%) newborns had other infectious diseases including peritonitis, purulent meningitis, urinary system infection, skin infection, perianal infection and conjunctivitis, which accounted for 12.9% of the patients with infectious diseases. Blood culture was performed for 163 newborns with PROM, the positive rate of the culture was 38.7% (63/163). The main pathogenic bacteria detected in blood culture were Gram-positive cocci (45.9%) and Gram-negative rods (54.1%). Gram-positive cocci mainly included Staphylococcus haemolyticus and Staphylococcus epidermidis (16/63). Gram-negative rods included K. pneumoniae (19/63) and Escherichia coli (9/63). Fungi were detected in two preterm infants (3.2%). There was no significant difference in the level of total serum bilirubin between term newborns and preterm newborns with PROM (P>0.05). Total serum bilirubin level of 37.1% of total preterm newborns with PROM exceeded 220 micromol/L, while it was 29.1% in term newborns with PROM (P<0.05). There was a significant decrease of blood platelet count (P<0.01) between the PROM group and the normal group. The myocardial enzymes including lactate dehydrogenases, aspartate aminotransferase, creatine kinase, MB isoenzyme of creatine kinase of PROM group were significantly higher than those of the normal group (P<0.05). Compared with the normal group, the average hospital stay of term newborns with PROM and preterm newborns with PROM were prolonged by 20.0% and 25.1% respectively, the average cost of hospitalization of them were increased 30.5% and 60.0% respectively.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>PROM is harmful to newborns health in many ways. Studies on PROM should be enhanced.</p>