1649 Retrospective Analysis of Doxapram for the Treatment of Apnea of Prematurity

2012

Background and Aims Only one small randomized controlled study on doxapram to treat apnea of prematurity is available. Before the implementation of a local treatment protocol, we aimed to evaluate the frequency of administration of doxapram in our NICU. We asked, if frequency and severity of apneas were affected by doxapram, if intubation for apnea was avoided, and if side effects occurred. Methods We retrospectively analysed all premature infants Results 17 of 64 (27%) infants (mean gestational age 26.1 weeks, mean birth weight 733g) were treated during two years. All of them had been treated with caffeine before doxapram was applied. 70 therapy courses of 16 infants were analyzed. In 8 of…