Nov 10, 2007

The Fracas About Resuscitation

I am going to start by a recent exchange that occurred over at the preeemie experiment. The conversation---rather impassioned but never truly disrespectful---spanned two separate posts (Nov 7 and Nov 6) and garnered more than 100 comments in a 24 hour period! I like to think it began with a comment made that my husband and I made a decision a few months ago that we would not seek resuscitation in this pregnancy prior to 26 weeks. We discussed this with the high risk OB who had delivered our twins at 26 weeks 3 years ago, and duly entered this decision into our medical records.

Thankfully, we were spared the decision, as I am now 32 weeks pregnant.

However, the issue remains a serious moral quandry that I have thought about for quite some time. I had first contemplated a DNR under 26 weeks, hypothetically, years ago, when I began reading more about prematurity. While my twins' 3 month stay in the NICU in 2004 was relatively uncomplicated and they are doing very well now, my decision had less to do with their outcome than with a profound understanding of how dicey outcomes are for all premature infants. Precisely because the decision was NOT made based on my own childrens' outcomes, I don't believe it reflects on how much I value my own children. More importantly, I do not believe that a decision not to resuscitate casts any children's lives as not meaningful. However, this seems a common assumption in the heated exchanges on this topic that I have observed.

I think it is significant that very few people post or comment about DNR orders they have made. Yet a few of us who actually made the decision or acted upon it did comment in this exchange and that to me was a real accomplishment.

I think it is extremely valuable to have these kinds of comments---especially on such a sensitive and unpopular moral issue. The true test of an open and respectful forum is one in which people feel safe commenting on these issues and possibly learning from each other. Sadly, the emotional tenor of the debate led TPE to shut down comments on her blog.

I do hope that this conversation will continue. And I also believe there are many, many equally important issues surrounding prematurity that need further discussion.

Please scroll to the bottom of this website for a set of web pages that include the entire ACOG practice bulletin on resuscitation limits.

Nov 6, 2007

Antenatal Steroids: The research

There was a heated discussion earlier this year at Neonatal Doc which turned offensive and resulted in the blog's slow death as well as the deletion of some comments regarding antenatal steroids. Oddly, the topic of antenatal steriods--which remains under research and debate---had not been covered in the neonatology blogosphere that I know of.

Let me try and summarize the gist of the debate on antenatal steriods from a cursory reading of the literature. For at least ten years there has been considerable debate on what type of corticosteroid therapy is most effective and safe in improving neonatal outcomes. The efficacy and safety of a "single repeat dose" of antenatal steroids---generally betamethasone, administered in two, repeat 6 mg shots, 12 hours apart---is unchallenged.

As doctor Roger Newman, past president of the Society of Maternal Fetal Medicine, proudly told me in an interview a few months ago, "a single course of antenatal steriods has saved as many lives as the discover of penecllin in its era." Yet he admitted the jury is still out on several major questions, including the efficacy of antenatal steriods for twin pregnancies as well as the efficacy and safety of administering multiple doses---which have been administered to women who go into preterm labor early but do not deliver.

Because the efficacy of the steroids appears to decline after one week (although question remain), women who remain pregnant have been encouraged to have repeat doses of steriods until their ultimate delivery date. Several studies have shown that three or more courses of antenatal steroids can have significant detrimental effects on fetal growth, fetal weight and length, and most importantly head circumference. As such, debate remains about the best time to initiate steriod therapy and when best to end it, to maximize its benefits but minimize the potential harm to fetal development.

An article in the April 2007 issue of Pediatrics by C Bonnano, K Fuchs, and RJ Wapner offers caution. Effectively it shows that while a single or a "rescue" course of antenatal steroids is efficacious, these effects must be tempered against adverse effects seen for 4 or more courses of steroids (these would be given if, for instance, a woman remained pregant for several more months after first going into labor and receiving a dose of steroids at perhaps 22 weeks). Moreover, further evidence about the 24 month neurological and developmental outcomes for infants treated with repeat doses of antenatal steriods is still lacking.

A recent Cochrane Database article indicates that repeat doses of corticosteriods were associated with reduced risk neonatal lung disease (primarily RDS), as well as reduced birthweight and/or head circumference. They too call for caution and studies analyzing long term outcomes of infants treated with repeat doses of antenatal steriods.

It is good news that researchers are calling for caution. Perhaps they hope to avoid the recent debacle in postnatal steriod therapy for premature infants---where dexamethasone was later shown to have profoundly deleterious effects including higher rates of CP and other neurological damage.

Click here for the Cochrane Database abstract.