These tools will no longer be maintained as of December 31, 2024. Archived website can be found here. PubMed4Hh GitHub repository can be found here. Contact NLM Customer Service if you have questions.


Pubmed for Handhelds

PUBMED FOR HANDHELDS

Search MEDLINE/PubMed

  • Title: Antenatal corticosteroids increase fetal, but not postnatal, pulmonary blood flow in sheep.
    Author: Crossley KJ, Morley CJ, Allison BJ, Davis PG, Polglase GR, Wallace MJ, Zahra VA, Hooper SB.
    Journal: Pediatr Res; 2009 Sep; 66(3):283-8. PubMed ID: 19542907.
    Abstract:
    The lungs of very preterm infants have immature airways and gas exchange structures and are usually surfactant deficient. Antenatal corticosteroids are commonly used to enhance fetal lung maturation in preterm infants, but little is known of their effects on pulmonary blood flow (PBF) before and immediately after birth. Our aim was to determine the effects of antenatal betamethasone on PBF before birth and during the postnatal transition in very preterm lambs. Antenatal betamethasone treatment significantly increased mean fetal PBF from 20.2 +/- 5.1 to 84.3 +/- 18.3 mL/min at 30 h after administration; the PBF waveform was also significantly altered. Mean diastolic PBF increased from -38.5 +/- 4.9 pretreatment to -10.2 +/- 11.0 mL/min at approximately 36 h after the initial betamethasone dose (negative values indicate retrograde flow away from the lungs). Within 10 min after delivery, PBF was similar in control and betamethasone-treated lambs. These data demonstrate that antenatal betamethasone significantly increases fetal PBF and alters the PBF waveform but has little effect on postnatal PBF.
    [Abstract] [Full Text] [Related] [New Search]