Active clinical trials for "Leukomalacia, Periventricular"

Preterm and very preterm infants are at risk of developing encephalopathy of prematurity and long-term neurodevelopmental delay. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) allows the characterization of specific features of encephalopathy of prematurity, including structural changes of brain white matter and gray matter. This study wants to investigate important evidence that early repeated high-dose rhEPO(5250 IU/kg) treatment improves long-term neurological outcomes in very preterm infants and without obvious adverse effects.

As many more premature infants survive, the numbers of these infants with health problems increases. The rate of cerebral palsy (CP) in extremely premature infants is approximately 20%. Magnesium sulfate, the most commonly used drug in the US to stop premature labor, may prevent CP. This trial tests whether magnesium sulfate given to a woman in labor with a premature fetus (24 to 31 weeks out of 40) will reduce the rate of death or moderate to severe CP in the children at 2 years. The children receive ultrasounds of their brains as infants and attend three follow-up visits over two years to assess their health and development.

Periventricular leukomalacia (PVL) is one of the most common brain injuries that occur in preterm infants. Inflammation, hypoxia-ischemia, free oxygen radical formation and excitotoxicity are all known pathogenic mechanisms that mediate this injury. Erythropoietin (EPO) has been shown to be protective against hypoxic-ischemic and inflammatory injuries. During the past decade, recombinant human Epo (rhEpo) has been widely used in preterm infants to prevent or treat the anemia of prematurity, in general, rhEpo has been considered to be safe and well tolerated in preterm infants. EPO was considered not capable of passing through blood-brain-barrier at low dose. Evidence from animal experiments reveals that rhEpo must be given in high doses at the beginning or within a short (up to 6 hours), critical time period after the onset of brain injury to achieve a significant neuroprotective effect. A recent study using high-dose rhEpo (3000 U rhEpo/kg body weight at birth) for neuroprotection in very preterm infants revealed that no signs of adverse effects of early high-dose rhEpo treatment in very preterm infants were identified. Contrary to this, a recent study in PVL of a rat model revealed that using a low dose rhEpo (50-100 U/kg) was effective in the treatment of brain damage induced by hypoxia-ischemia and did not affect normal oligodendrocyte maturity. On this basis, the researchers intent to investigate (1) whether low-dose rhEpo (100 U/kg) or high-dose rhEpo (3,000 U/kg) given to very preterm infants (gestation age < 32 weeks) immediately after birth and subsequently during the first 2 days is safe and possesses neuroprotective properties;(2) whether there are gender differences in response to the hypoxia-ischemic insult and EPO treatment; (3)the pharmacokinetics of low dose and high dose rhEPO. Very preterm infants with gestational age of < 32 weeks and admitted to the NICU are eligible for enrollment.

This study examined the effect of magnesium sulfate (MgSO4) exposure on adverse outcome in extremely low birth weight (ELBW) infants. For infants included in the NICHD Neonatal Research Network Generic Database whose mothers were given prenatal MgSO4, data were prospectively collected on maternal/infant conditions and magnesium exposure (including indications, timing and duration of exposure).

The investigators propose to compare the proteomic analysis of umbilical venous blood from neonates with brain injury to gestational age matched noninjured controls. After delivery an umbilical arterial gas and a 10 ml umbilical venous sample are obtained, then the remainder of the cord blood is discarded. The investigators plan to use this cord blood that would otherwise be discarded to perform our proteomic analysis. The investigators will use up to 20 ml of cord blood per delivery. This will be a 5 year study during which time the investigators hope to analyze 450 infants at Johns Hopkins Hospital and Bayview Medical Center. The investigators will obtain an umbilical venous sample from infants born at < 34 weeks gestation. For infants born at > 34 weeks the investigators will obtain an umbilical venous sample for any infant suspected to be at risk for neurologic injury by having a diagnosis of chorioamnionitis during labor, nonreassuring fetal heart rate tracing at the time of delivery, or a 5 minute Apgar < 7. For the infants born at < 34 weeks the brain injured infants will be compared to gestational age matched controls without brain injury. For the infants born at > 34 weeks, each infant later confirmed to have neurologic morbidity will be compared to a gestational age matched noninjured control. The investigators hope to use proteomic analysis to determine if there are measurable differences in protein expression between the 2 groups.

The improvement of treatment of preterm neonates improved their survival, however there is still significant portion of preterm infants (specifically very preterm infants) that suffers from brain insults and as a result developmental deficits. The brain injury is a consequence of hypoxic ischemic events, intracranial hemorrhages, as well as, infections and metabolic crisis. The brain injury is a combination of abnormal myelination, axonal damage and neuronal death. Although there is reduction in focal brain injury, diffuse brain injury is still abundant. Several treatments has been suggested and tested in animal models to prevent the brain insults including glutamate receptor blockers, allopurinol, xenon and different types of stem cells. However, two main obstacles prevent the use of these medication, first the uncertainty of their effect on the developing brain and second the difficulty to time the brain insult. Unlike neonatal asphyxia, when the delivery time and clinical signs are used to time and grade the brain injury, in preterm infants there is no real time tool to indicate severity and timing of brain injury. The disability point out a beneficial therapeutic window is a major obstacle in the acute treatment of brain injury in preterm infants. The aim of this study is to try and delineate such therapeutic window by using brain injury biomarkers. S100b and GFAP are well recognized biomarkers of brain injury in adults, children and infants. Serial measurements of S100b in saliva (every 2 days) and GFAP in serum (weekly) will be sampled. A database of the clinical status of the infants will be collected, as well as, head ultra sound weekly and head MRI a term age. Development will be assessed by at 18 months. Two hypotheses are stated: One, increase in the levels of S100b and GFAP in their timing will be correlated with the severity of the clinical status, Two the duration of increased level of S100b and GFAP will be associated with abnormal MRI at term findings and abnormal developmental assessment.