Episode Details
Back to Episodes#439 - 🔵 [PAS 2026] - Do the Tiniest Babies Survive More With Longer Antibiotic Courses?
Description
Dr. Gesca Borchardt, third-year neonatology fellow at Winnie Palmer Hospital, presents findings from a retrospective study of 296 infants born under 25 weeks examining whether extending empiric antibiotic use beyond 72 hours reduces mortality in this vulnerable population. She shares why her unit moved to a seven-day antibiotic course for babies with placental pathology positive for chorioamnionitis — and what they found when they looked at the data. At 22 and 23 weeks, longer antibiotic courses were associated with a statistically significant decrease in mortality. At 24 weeks, no difference was seen. One puzzling finding clouds the picture however: an increased incidence of spontaneous intestinal perforation in the prolonged antibiotic group — a signal the team is still trying to understand and that the wider community will want to watch closely.
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