Placental Transfusion, Timing of Plastic Wrap or Bag Placement, and Preterm Neonates.

OBJECTIVE: Compare delivery room practices and outcomes of infants born at less than 32 weeks' gestation or less than 1,500 g who have plastic wrap/bag placement simultaneously during placental transfusion to those receiving plastic wrap/bag placement sequentially following placental transfusion. STUDY DESIGN: Retrospective analysis of data from a multisite quality improvement initiative to refine stabilization procedures pertaining to placental transfusion and thermoregulation using a plastic wrap/bag. Delivery room practices and outcome data in 590 total cases receiving placental transfusion were controlled for propensity score matching and hospital of birth. RESULTS: The simultaneous and sequential groups were similar in demographic and most outcome metrics. The simultaneous group had longer duration of delayed cord clamping compared with the sequential group (42.3 ± 14.8 vs. 34.1 ± 10.3 seconds, p < 0.001), and fewer number of times cord milking was performed (0.41 ± 1.26 vs. 0.86 ± 1.92 seconds, p < 0.001). The time to initiate respiratory support was also significantly shorter in the simultaneous group (97.2 ± 100.6 vs. 125.2 ± 177.6 seconds, p = 0.02). The combined outcome of death or necrotizing enterocolitis in the simultaneous group was more frequent than in the sequential group (15.3 vs. 9.3%, p = 0.038); all other outcomes measured were similar. CONCLUSION: Timing of plastic wrap/bag placement during placental transfusion did affect duration of delayed cord clamping, number of times cord milking was performed, and time to initiate respiratory support in the delivery room but did not alter birth hospital outcomes or respiratory care practices other than the combined outcome of death or necrotizing enterocolitis. KEY POINTS: · Plastic bag placement during placental transfusion is effective in stabilization of preterms.. · Plastic bag placement after placental transfusion is effective in stabilization of preterms.. · Plastic bag placement during placental transfusion and risk of death or necrotizing enterocolitis needs additional study..

Incidence of catheter-related bloodstream infections in neonates following removal of peripherally inserted central venous catheters.

OBJECTIVES: Catheter-associated bloodstream infections are a significant source of morbidity and healthcare cost in the neonatal ICU. Previous studies examining the prevalence of bloodstream infections after removal of peripherally inserted central venous catheters in neonates are equivocal. DESIGN: A retrospective cohort study. PATIENTS: All infants with peripherally inserted central venous catheters treated at the Vanderbilt neonatal ICU between 2007 and 2009. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: We evaluated the following outcomes: 1) bloodstream infections, 2) culture-negative sepsis, 3) number of sepsis evaluations, and 4) number of significant apnea/bradycardia events comparing odds ratios between 72 hours before and 72 hours after peripherally inserted central venous catheter removal. We analyzed a total of 1,002 peripherally inserted central venous catheters in 856 individual infants with a median (interquartile range) gestational age of 31 weeks (28-37 wk) and a median birth weight of 1,469 g (960-2,690 g). Comparing 72 hours before with 72 hours after peripherally inserted central venous catheter removal did not show a difference in the prevalence of bloodstream infections (9 vs 3, p = 0.08), prevalence of culture-negative sepsis (37 vs 40, p = 0.73), number of sepsis evaluations (p = 0.42), or number of apnea/bradycardia events (p = 0.32). However, in peripherally inserted central venous catheter not used for delivery of antibiotics, there was a 3.83-fold increase in odds for culture-negative sepsis following peripherally inserted central venous catheter removal (95% confidence interval, 1.48-10.5; p = 0.001). For infants less than 1,500 g birth weight (very low birth weight), odds for culture-negative sepsis increased to 6.3-fold following removal of peripherally inserted central venous catheters not used for antibiotic delivery (95% confidence interval, 1.78-26.86; p < 0.01). CONCLUSIONS: Although these data do not support the routine use of antibiotics for sepsis prophylaxis prior to peripherally inserted central venous catheter removal, they suggests that very low birth weight infants not recently exposed to antibiotics are at increased odds for associated adverse events following discontinuation of their peripherally inserted central venous catheter.