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Prof. Dr. Gounaris K. Antonios

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University Neonatal Clinic-NICU, University Hospital of Larissa, 413 34 Larissa, Greece
Interests: parenteral and enteral nutrition; gastric motility; early nCPAP; early and late outcomes of very preterm neonates

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Moving into the post-surfactant era, the mortality of neonates was improved significantly in the early 1990s, especially for those who were the most preterm. This great increase of the survival rate was not accompanied by improvement in neurodevelopmental outcomes. Most of the relevant papers of this decade showed a significant increase in the percentage of babies with neurodevelopmental damage. During the same period, the correlation shown by D. J. Barker and other researchers between intra- and extrauterine growth restriction of neonates and adverse early and late outcomes changed the philosophy and scope of perinatal and neonatal medicine.

In early 2000, E. E. Ziegler et al. proposed that aggressive nutrition was necessary for better growth of the very preterm neonates; at the same time, less invasive respiratory support methods (i.e., Columbia method) were implemented.

In 2006, R. A. Ehrenkranz et al. showed that better growth in the 40 weeks corrected age of extremely low birth weight infants resulted in less developmental damage.

Today, in this new era, we think that it is important for this Special Issue to include papers that will improve clinical care and outcome during the perinatal–neonatal period. We invite authors to submit manuscripts with research and policies from different perspectives (e.g., respiratory, gastrointestinal, CNS) that serve the purposes of fetal growth, neonatal growth, enteral nutrition, nCPAP or NIPPV use, and early or late outcome of very preterm neonates.

Dr. Gounaris K. Antonios
Guest Editor

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Keywords

fetal growth
neonatal growth
parenteral nutrition
enteral nutrition
feeding methods
nCPAP
NIPPV
very preterm neonates

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

9 pages, 226 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Reference Values of Thrombolastometry Parameters in Healthy Term Neonates

by Martha Theodoraki, Rozeta Sokou, Serena Valsami, Zoi Iliodromiti, Abraham Pouliakis, Stavroula Parastatidou, Georgia Karavana, Georgios Ioakeimidis, Petroula Georgiadou, Nicoletta Iacovidou and Theodora Boutsikou

Children 2020, 7(12), 259; https://doi.org/10.3390/children7120259 - 26 Nov 2020

Cited by 12 | Viewed by 2055

Abstract

Background: Thromboelastometry (ROTEM), as a point of care test, is an attractive tool for rapid evaluation of hemostasis. Currently, no reference ranges exist for all ROTEM assays in neonates, limiting its use in this vulnerable population. The aim of the present study was: (1) to establish reference ranges for standard extrinsically activated (EXTEM), intrinsically activated (INTEM), and fibrinogen polymerization (FIBTEM) ROTEM assays in whole blood samples of healthy term neonates; (2) to determine the impact of gender, delivery mode, and hematocrit on ROTEM parameters. Methods: EXTEM, INTEM, and FIBTEM ROTEM assays were performed simultaneously with complete blood count in 215 healthy term neonates. Results: Reference ranges (2.5th and 97.5th percentiles) were obtained for clotting time (CT), clot formation time (CFT), α-angle, clot firmness at 10 min (A10), maximum clot firmness (MCF), and lysis index at 60 min (LI60, %). Reference ranges for EXTEM were CT 38–78 s, CFT 49–148 s, A10 40–65 mm, and MCF 47–69 mm, LI60 83–98%. For INTEM, CT 134–270 s, CFT 50–142 s, A10 41–63 mm, and MCF 48–67 mm, LI60 85–97%, and finally, for FIBTEM: CT 36–85 s, A10 9–25 mm and MCF 10–26 mm, LI60 92–100%. Hematocrit values were positively correlated with CT, CFT and negatively with A10, MCF values. Conclusion: This study provides, for the first time, reference ranges for ROTEM EXTEM/INTEM/FIBTEM values simultaneously in healthy term neonates. The combined evaluation of ROTEM tests increases its diagnostic accuracy, contributing to the expansion of ROTEM use in the neonatal population. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Common Fetal and Neonatal Disorders)

10 pages, 888 KiB

Open AccessFeature PaperArticle

Nucleated Red Blood Cells: Could They Be Indicator Markers of Illness Severity for Neonatal Intensive Care Unit Patients?

by Rozeta Sokou, Georgios Ioakeimidis, Maria Lampridou, Abraham Pouliakis, Andreas G. Tsantes, Argyrios E. Tsantes, Nicoletta Iacovidou and Aikaterini Konstantinidi

Children 2020, 7(11), 197; https://doi.org/10.3390/children7110197 - 27 Oct 2020

Cited by 8 | Viewed by 3347

Abstract

Background: We aimed to assess whether nucleated red blood cells (NRBCs) count could serve as a diagnostic and prognostic biomarker for morbidity and mortality in critically ill neonates. Methods: The association between NRBCs count and neonatal morbidity and mortality was evaluated in an observational cohort of critically ill neonates hospitalized in our neonatal intensive care unit over a period of 69 months. The discriminative ability of NRBCs count as diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers was evaluated by performing the Receiver Operating Characteristics (ROC) curve analysis. Results: Among 467 critically ill neonates included in the study, 45 (9.6%) of them experienced in-hospital mortality. No statistically significant difference was found with regards to NRBCs count between survivors and non-survivors, although the median value for NRBCs was sometimes higher for non-survivors. ROC curve analysis showed that NRBCs is a good discriminator marker for the diagnosis of perinatal hypoxia in neonates with area under the curve (AUC) [AUC 0.710; 95% confidence interval (CI), 0.660–0.759] and predominantly in preterm neonates (AUC 0.921 (95% CI, 0.0849–0.0993)) by using a cut-off value of ≥11.2%, with 80% sensitivity and 88.7% specificity. NRBCs also revealed significant prognostic power for mortality in septic neonates (AUC 0.760 (95% CI, 0.631–0.888)) and especially in preterms with sepsis (AUC 0.816 (95% CI, 0.681–0.951)), with cut-off value ≥ 1%, resulting in 81.6% sensitivity and 78.1% specificity. Conclusion: NRBCs count may be included among the early diagnostic and prognostic markers for sick neonates. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Common Fetal and Neonatal Disorders)

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