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Targeted neonatal echocardiography (TNE) is widely used in the cardiovascular management of sick infants in neonatal intensive care unit (NICU).1 TNE should only be performed by operators who possess the knowledge and skills to acquire high-quality images in a structured manner, in order to formulate a diagnosis and medical recommendation. Suboptimal image quality due to agitation of the infant during a TNE may prolong scan time and result in errors in measurements and interpretation, leading to incorrect medical decisions. Oral glucose solutions are recommended to reduce procedure-related stress in infants.2 However, there are no data supporting this intervention in the context of the conductance of TNE. Anecdotally, many neonatologist sonographers across the globe have adopted the routine use of oral glucose to reduce agitation and facilitate image acquisition during a TNE, despite a lack of supporting scientific evidence.
To determine whether oral glucose is effective in reducing agitation during a TNE, 104 infants born between 26 …
Footnotes
Contributors PML: conceptualised and designed the study, performed echocardiography studies, analysed data, wrote the manuscript. AS: designed the study, performed echocardiographic studies, reviewed the manuscript. JT: performed echocardiographic studies, reviewed the manuscript. MJ: performed echocardiographic studies, reviewed the manuscript. AJ: helped design the echocardiography rating scale, including conducting pilot testing of the scale, scored all echocardiographic studies, reviewed the manuscript. EK: conducted the randomisation, prepared oral study solutions for the infants, reviewed the manuscript. EC: performed echocardiographic studies, reviewed the manuscript. PB: helped design the echocardiography rating scale, reviewed the manuscript. PJM: helped design the echocardiography rating scale, including conducting pilot testing of the scale, scored all echocardiographic studies, wrote the manuscript. RB: conducted the statistical analyses, contributed to the initial draft of the manuscript. LH: conceptualised and designed the study, obtained external funding, performed some of the data analysis (reliability), wrote manuscript. All authors reviewed and approved the final manuscript as submitted
Funding This study was funded by the Alva Foundation (to LH). PML is supported by Clinician-Scientist Awards from the CFRI and the Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research (MSFHR). LH is supported by a Canadian Institutes of Health Research Canada Research Chair.
Competing interests None declared.
Patient consent Obtained.
Ethics approval Children's & Women's Health Centre of British Columbia (C&W) Research Ethics Board (#H10-02069).
Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.