[Cardiovascular and digestive effects of 2 mydriatics in the low-birth-weight newborn infant]. / Effets cardiovasculaires et digestifs de deux mydriatiques chez le nouveau-né de faible poids de naissance.

We studied the pupillary cardiovascular and gastrointestinal effects of two parasympathetic blocker mydriatics. Thirty-four neonates were randomly assigned into 3 groups: A: Atropine sulfate 0.3%, B: Tropicamide 0.5%, C: placebo. Mydriasis was obtained in groups A and B (p less than 0.001). No hypertension was observed and only an increase in heart rate with atropine was significant (p less than 0.001). Gastrointestinal side-effects studied in 25 children revealed a disturbance in groups A and B as compared to placebo (p less than 0.01). Tropicamide is therefore a more useful drug in low birth weight infants due to the absence of cardiovascular and hypertensive side-effects. Those infants with gastrointestinal disease should be treated with caution due to the side-effects which may be encountered.

[Acute retinopathy of prematurity following oxygen therapy: current concepts (author's transl)]. / Données actuelles sur la rétinopathie aiguë du prématuré sous oxygénothérapie.

Five cases of retinopathy of prematurity have been observed among 1,750 premature infants at the Florence Geller Center in Cochin-Port-Royal--C.H.U. over a period of four years. In all cases, arterial PaO2 was more than 100 mmHg at least once. In the two worst cases, oxygen therapy given only during the first had been hours of life. The authors insist on the dangers of oxygen overdose immediately after birth or during transport to a Premature Infants Center. Laser photocoagulation was employed in four eyes: 2 with regression, 1 with cicatrisation, 1 with fibroplasia. Retinopathy of prematurity remains a danger in France, even if it is not as frequent as in the U.S.A. or Japan. Indirect ophthalmoscopy is essential for diagnosis and fluorography very useful to determine prognosis and treatment.