CHICAGO-Barbiturates appear to protect term newborns with severe asphyxia from hypoxic-ischemic injury.
Babies given 40 mg/kg of phenobarbital early after asphyxia onset had a 27% drop in seizure incidence and significantly better late neurologic outcomes than those given lower doses only when seizures appeared, says a team at Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City. Infusions for both groups lasted over an hour.
Nine of 15 newborns in the early-treatment group had seizures, vs. 14 of 16 controls, says Dr. Robert T. Hall. But three years later, 11 early-treated newborns had normal neurologic outcomes, vs. three controls, he told the Midwest Society for Pediatric Research meeting here.
Asphyxia severity was comparable in the groups. Mean age at entry into the study was 4.6 hours in the early-treatment group and 6.9 hours for controls.
