Postoperative management of low birth weight infants:10 years' experience

Abstract

Objective To investigate the factors influencing the prognosis of LBW infants undergoing surgical management.Methods Between January 1996 and August 2006,104 LBW infants admitted to our department were enrolled in this study.Average birth weight was 244±261 g,and average gestational age was 36+1wk,respectively.They were divided into 2 groups depending on the admitring date as follows:patients of group A were admitted between January 1996 and December 2000,and group B was later than January 2001.Results The morbidity of LBW infants was 9.45%in neonates undergoing surgical management.The survival rate of LBW infants was 67.3%.Forty-one patients were performed mechanical ventilation,and average ventilation time was 6.2 days.Forty-five patients had received total parenteral nutrition(TPN),average time was 9.5 days.There was no significant difference in birth weight and gestational age between above 2 groups.Survival rate of group Awas 58.8%in contrast of 71.4% of group B In group A,12 patients had been performed mechanical ventilation for an average of 3.2 days,and 7 patients had received TPN for an average of 7.5 days.In group B,29 patients had been performed mechanical ventilation for an average of 8.4 days,and 38 patients had received TPN for an average of 19.4 days.The percentage and duration of mechanical ventilation in group B were higher than those in group A.There was significant difference in survival rate between these 2 groups(P＜0.05).Conclusions Assistant mechanical ventilation and TPN can improve the survival rate in LBW infants undergoing surgical management. Key words: Infant,low birth weight; Abnormalities; Parenteral nutrition,total