Neonatal and Long-Term Consequences of Fetal Growth Restriction

Fetal Growth Restriction (FGR) is one of the most common noxious antenatal conditions in humans, affecting 10% of all pregnancies, inducing a substantial proportion of preterm delivery and leading to a significant increase in perinatal mortality, neurological handicaps and chronic diseases in adulthood. This review summarizes the current knowledge about the postnatal consequences of FGR, with a particular emphasis on the long-term consequences on respiratory, cardiovascular and neurological structures and functions. FGR represents a global health challenge, and efforts are urgently needed to improve our understanding of the critical factors leading to FGR and subsequent insults to the developing organs

Cord blood procalcitonin level and early-onset sepsis in extremely preterm infants

Early-onset neonatal sepsis (EOS) is observed in 1.7% of extremely preterm infants, with high morbidity and mortality rate. Cord blood procalcitonin (PCT) is a sensitive marker of EOS in full-term newborns, but it has been rarely studied in premature infants. The diagnostic value of cord blood PCT by immunofluorescence has been assessed as an early marker of EOS in a prospective cohort of extremely preterm infants, with a threshold at 0.5 μg/L. EOS was defined by a positive bacterial culture or by the association of postnatal biological/clinical signs of EOS and antibiotic treatment for more than 72 h. Correlation between PCT serum concentrations and postnatal morbidities was also analyzed. Among a total of 186 infants, 45 (24%) were classified as EOS. Blood PCT concentration was ≤ 0.5 μg/L in 114 infants, including 11 EOS (9.6%) and PCT was > 0.5 μg/L in 72 babies including 34 EOS (47.2%). PCT concentration > 0.5 μg/L was associated with higher risk of EOS (OR 2.18; CI95% 1.58-3.02; p  0.5 μg/L (OR 2.58; CI95% 1.35-4.94; p = 0.004). Cord blood PCT is a marker significantly associated with EOS in extremely preterm infants, but its sensitivity remains low. Its added value in combination with other early marker of EOS needs to be further investigated in this high-risk population

Bedside functional monitoring of the dynamic brain connectivity in human neonates

Clinicians have long been interested in functional brain monitoring, as reversible functional losses often precedes observable irreversible structural insults. By characterizing neonatal functional cerebral networks, resting-state functional connectivity is envisioned to provide early markers of cognitive impairments. Here we present a pioneering bedside deep brain resting-state functional connectivity imaging at 250-μm resolution on human neonates using functional ultrasound. Signal correlations between cerebral regions unveil interhemispheric connectivity in very preterm newborns. Furthermore, fine-grain correlations between homologous pixels are consistent with white/grey matter organization. Finally, dynamic resting-state connectivity reveals a significant occurrence decrease of thalamo-cortical networks for very preterm neonates as compared to control term newborns. The same method also shows abnormal patterns in a congenital seizure disorder case compared with the control group. These results pave the way to infants' brain continuous monitoring and may enable the identification of abnormal brain development at the bedside