Establishing a novel community-focussed lactation support service: a descriptive case series

Background Although breastfeeding is widely acknowledged as protecting both infant and maternal health postnatally, a partial or complete shortfall of maternal milk can occur for a range of reasons. In this eventuality, the currently available options for feeding infants are screened donor human milk (DHM), infant formula or unscreened shared human milk. In the UK, DHM has only been widely available in specific clinical contexts for the last 40 years, mainly to reduce the risk of necrotising enterocolitis in extremely preterm infants alongside optimal support for maternal lactation and breastfeeding. The Hearts Milk Bank (HMB) was established in 2017 as an independent, non-profit human milk bank that aimed to ensure equitable, assured access to screened DHM for neonatal units. As a result of the generosity of mothers, a surplus of DHM rapidly became available and together with lactation support, has since been provided to families with a healthcare referral. This programme has now been formalised for families facing lactational challenges, and DHM stocks are permanently maintained to meet their needs. Case series This case series describes the clinical paths of four families who accessed lactation support and DHM from the HMB, along with a description of the process for community provision. To date, the HMB has supported over 300 families. Working collaboratively with key stakeholders, the HMB team has developed a prioritisation strategy based on utilitarian ethical models, protocols that ensure safe handling and appropriateness of use, broader donor recruitment parameters that maintain safety with a pragmatic approach for full term healthy infants, and a process to ensure parents or carers have access to the knowledge needed to give informed consent and use DHM appropriately. Conclusions Stakeholders, including parents, healthcare professionals, and milk banks, will need to discuss priorities for both DHM use and research gaps that can underpin the equitable expansion of services, in partnership with National Health Service (NHS) teams and third-sector organisations that support breastfeeding and maternal mental health.

Drug utilisation in neonatal units in England and Wales: a national cohort study

Purpose To describe drug utilisation patterns in neonatal units. Methods Retrospective observational cohort study using data held in the National Neonatal Research Database (NNRD) for neonatal units in England and Wales including infants born at 23 to 44 weeks’ gestational age (GA) from 01 January 2010 to 31 December 2017. Results The cohort included 17,501 (3%) extremely preterm infants; 40,607 (7%) very preterm infants; 193,536 (31%) moderate-to-late preterm infants; and 371,606 (59%) term infants. The number of unique drugs received by an infant (median (IQR)) increased with decreasing GA: 17 (11–24) in extremely preterm, 7 (5–11) in very preterm, 3 (0–4) in moderate-to-late preterm, and 3 (0–3) in term infants. The two most frequently prescribed drugs were benzylpenicillin and gentamicin in all GA groups, and caffeine in extremely preterm. Other frequently used drugs among preterm infants were electrolytes, diuretics and anti-reflux medications. Among infants <32 weeks’ GA, the largest increase in use was for surfactant (given on the neonatal unit), caffeine and probiotics, while domperidone and ranitidine had the largest decline. Conclusion Antibiotics, for all GAs and caffeine, among preterm infants, are the most frequently used drugs in neonatal medicine. Preterm infants are exposed to a high burden of drugs, particularly antibiotics. Changing patterns in use reflect the emergence of evidence in some areas but several non-evidence-based drugs continue to be used widely. Improvements are needed to ensure rational drug use on neonatal units. Registration ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT03773289). Date of registration 21 Dec 2018.

Early spectral EEG in preterm infants correlates with neurocognitive outcomes in late childhood

Background Evidence regarding the predictive value of early amplitude-integrated electroencephalography (aEEG)/EEG on neurodevelopmental outcomes at school age and beyond is lacking. We aimed to investigate whether there is an association between early postnatal EEG and neurocognitive outcomes in late childhood. Methods This study is an observational prospective cohort study of premature infants with a gestational age <28 weeks. The total absolute band powers (tABP) of the delta, theta, alpha, and beta bands were analyzed from EEG recordings during the first three days of life. At 10–12 years of age, neurocognitive outcomes were assessed using the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children 4th edition (WISC-IV), Vineland adaptive behavior scales 2nd edition, and Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function (BRIEF). The mean differences in tABP were assessed for individuals with normal versus unfavorable neurocognitive scores. Results Twenty-two infants were included. tABP values in all four frequency bands were significantly lower in infants with unfavorable results in the main composite scores (full intelligence quotient, adaptive behavior composite score, and global executive composite score) on all three tests (p < 0.05). Conclusions Early postnatal EEG has the potential to assist in predicting cognitive outcomes at 10–12 years of age in extremely premature infants <28 weeks’ gestation. Impact Evidence regarding the value of early postnatal EEG in long-term prognostication in preterm infants is limited. Our study suggests that early EEG spectral analysis correlates with neurocognitive outcomes in late childhood in extremely preterm infants. Early identification of infants at-risk of later impairment is important to initiate early and targeted follow-up and intervention.

Lateral Kangaroo Care in Hemodynamic Stability of Extremely Preterm Infants: Protocol Study for a Non-Inferiority Randomized Controlled Trial CANGULAT

Introduction: This study aims to assess the efficacy of the modified kangaroo care lateral position on the thermal stability of preterm neonates versus conventional kangaroo care prone position. Material and methods: A non-inferiority randomized parallel clinical trial. Kangaroo care will be performed in a lateral position for the experimental group and in a prone position for the control group preterm. The study will take place at the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) of a University Hospital. The participants will be extremely premature infants (under 28 weeks of gestational age) along the first five days of life, hemodynamically stable, with mother or father willing to do kangaroo care and give their written consent to participate in the study. The sample size calculated was 35 participants in each group. When the premature infant is hemodynamically stable and one of the parents stays in the NICU, the patient will be randomized into two groups: an experimental group or a control group. The primary outcome is premature infant axillary temperature. Neonatal pain level and intraventricular hemorrhage are secondary outcomes. Discussion: There is no scientific evidence on modified kangaroo care lateral position. Furthermore, there is little evidence of increased intraventricular hemorrhage association with the lateral head position necessary in conventional or prone kangaroo care in extremely premature newborns. Kangaroo care is a priority intervention in neonatal units increasing the time of use more and more, making postural changes necessary to optimize comfort and minimize risks with kangaroo care lateral position as an alternative to conventional prone position kangaroo care. Meanwhile, it is essential to ensure that the conventional kangaroo care prone position, which requires the head to lay sideways, is a safe position in terms of preventing intraventricular hemorrhage in the first five days of life of children under 28 weeks of gestational age. Trial registration at clinicaltrials.gov: NCT03990116.

Is late prevention of cerebral palsy in extremely preterm infants plausible?

Preterm birth continues to be associated with neurodevelopmental problems including cerebral palsy. Cystic white matter injury is still the major neuropathology underlying cerebral palsy, affecting 1-3% of preterm infants. Although rates have gradually fallen over time, the pathogenesis and evolution of cystic white matter injury are still poorly understood. Hypoxia-ischemia (HI) remains an important contributor yet there is no established treatment to prevent injury. Clinically, serial ultrasound and magnetic resonance imaging studies typically show delayed development of cystic lesions 2 to 4 weeks after birth. This raises the important and unresolved question as to whether this represents slow evolution of injury occurring around the time of birth, or repeated injury over many weeks after birth. There is increasing evidence that tertiary injury after HI can contribute to impairment of white and grey matter maturation. In the present review, we discuss preclinical evidence that severe, cystic white matter injury can evolve for many weeks after acute HI and is associated with microglia activity. This suggests the intriguing hypothesis that the tertiary phase of injury is not as subtle as often thought and that there may be a window of therapeutic opportunity for one to two weeks after hypoxic-ischemic injury to prevent delayed cystic lesions and so further reduce the risk of cerebral palsy after preterm birth.

Shape variability of the central sulcus in the developing brain: a longitudinal descriptive and predictive study in preterm infants.

Despite growing evidence of links between sulcation and function in the adult brain, the folding dynamics, occurring mostly before normal-term-birth, is vastly unknown. Looking into the development of cortical sulci in babies can give us keys to address fundamental questions: what is the sulcal shape variability in the developing brain? When are the shape features encoded? How are these morphological parameters related to further functional development? In this study, we aimed to investigate the shape variability of the developing central sulcus, which is the frontier between the primary somatosensory and motor cortices. We studied a cohort of 71 extremely preterm infants scanned twice using MRI - once around 30 weeks post-menstrual age (w PMA) and once at term-equivalent age, around 40w PMA -, in order to quantify the sulcus's shape variability using manifold learning, regardless of age-group or hemisphere. We then used these shape descriptors to evaluate the sulcus's variability at both ages and to assess hemispheric and age-group specificities. This led us to propose a description of ten shape features capturing the variability in the central sulcus of preterm infants. Our results suggested that most of these features (8/10) are encoded as early as 30w PMA. We unprecedentedly observed hemispheric asymmetries at both ages, and the one captured at term-equivalent age seems to correspond with the asymmetry pattern previously reported in adults. We further trained classifiers in order to explore the predictive value of these shape features on manual performance at 5 years of age (handedness and fine motor outcome). The central sulcus's shape alone showed a limited but relevant predictive capacity in both cases. The study of sulcal shape features during early neurodevelopment may participate to a better comprehension of the complex links between morphological and functional organization of the developing brain.