Ophthalmic and otolaryngology conditions are common in the neonatal intensive care population. When babies in the NICU present with these conditions, it requires swift recognition by the neonatologists and then further diagnosis and interventions by the relevant subspecialists. Recognizing the need for subspecialists in these areas can be a challenge and not every NICU and neonatologist has the luxury of referring to these particular subspecialists.
Enter the September issue of NeoReviews. In it, we deal with two such common problems concerning conjunctivitis and upper airways in newborns. In Neonatal Conjunctivitis by Khan et al, we provide the basics of conjunctivitis in a newborn, its diagnosis, differential diagnosis, and therapy for conjunctivitis caused by a variety of causative agents. One key point in the article is the evidence weighing the risks and benefits against the routine administration of erythromycin eye ointment in babies born to low-risk mothers. This information is useful to providers caring for babies whose parents decline intervention.
Neonatal Laryngotracheal Anomalies by Dr. Englestad et al provides a comprehensive list of common and uncommon otolaryngology conditions in the NICU. One vital point made by the authors is the comparison of the airway dosing of dexamethasone with the dexamethasone in the Dexamethasone: A Randomized Trial regimen for treating severe bronchopulmonary dysplasia.
Along with a great summer covering topics like ophthalmology, nutrition, cardiology, and pulmonology topics, the annual neonatal fellows boot camp convened and once again used content from the NeoReviews Video Library. This tool has been useful as a study guide and a reference for procedures and diagnostics. The book camp served 33 first year neonatal fellows from 11 different universities.
