As part of a multicentre study of porcine surfactant administration in respiratory distress syndrome, 29 babies weighing 2000 g or less were studied in the neonatal intensive care unit of the Royal Maternity Hospital, Belfast. Fourteen babies of a mean gestational age of 28.1 weeks were randomly allocated to the treatment group (200 mg/kg phospholipid given intratracheally) and 15 babies of a m...

OBJECTIVE To investigate whether cranial ultrasound abnormalities found in low risk full term infants had any influence on neurodevelopmental outcome. METHODS For 103 infants who had a neurological assessment, a cranial ultrasound examination, and for whom antenatal and perinatal data were collected within 48 hours of delivery, neurodevelopmental status was evaluated at 12 and 18 months. The ...

OBJECTIVE To systematically review which determinants, assessed within the first month after a moderate to severe traumatic brain injury, predict 6-month functional outcome. METHODS Databases were searched for relevant publications between 1995 and August 2008. Selection criteria were: prospective cohort studies; determinants associated with functional outcome 6 months after moderate to sever...

AIMS To describe two variants of infarction within the temporal lobe, associated with local matrix bleeding and mild to moderate intraventricular haemorrhage. METHODS The files of 10 neonates, extracted from a sonographic study of 560 very low birthweight infants conducted between 1993 and 1997, were retrospectively examined. RESULTS Seven lesions were located in the middle to posterior are...

Posthaemorrhagic ventricular dilatation (PHVD) is thought to be due to clots from intraventricular haemorrhage obstructing cerebrospinal fluid pathways involved in reabsorption. Over 60% of infants with progressive PHVD have gone on to require surgical shunt placement. Previous treatments all have major problems. The object of this pilot study was to achieve enough fibrinolysis to restore pathw...

Indomethacin (0.2 mg/kg) or saline was given intravenously during the first 24 hours to 50 preterm infants in a double blind controlled trial. Eight of the control group later required treatment with indomethacin for clinical signs of left to right shunt, but only one in the treatment group (p = 0.03). Treatment with indomethacin prolonged bleeding time, raised serum creatinine concentrations, ...

OBJECTIVE To determine factors and outcomes associated with ultra-early surgery for poor-grade aneurysmal subarachnoid haemorrhage (aSAH). DESIGN A multicentre retrospective analysis, observational study. SETTING High-volume teaching hospitals (more than 150 aSAH cases per year). PARTICIPANTS 118 patients with World Federation of Neurosurgical Societies (WFNS) grades IV and V underwent su...