There are extensive opportunities for adding to our current knowledge in terms of prevention and treatment of skin breakdown associated with device utilization in the neonatal intensive care unit, especially with the increasing use of nCPAP.

CHG does have a strong association with causing skin burns in the ELBW population; however, wiping the solution off of the skin seems to reduce injury.

Spontaneous intestinal perforation has been shown to be a significant morbidity in the extremely low birthweight neonate. Occult spontaneous intestinal perforation (SIP), without pneumoperitoneum on abdominal radiograph, typically occurs in neonates > 2 weeks of age and is usually diagnosed by visualization of particulate matter seen on an abdominal ultrasound. We present a case of a 25-week growth-restricted neonate at 12 days of life who was diagnosed with occult SIP by a novel mechanism.

An in-depth review of jaundice in the newborn was covered in this column in the September/October 2007 issue. This article will include a brief review of bilirubin formation and discuss what is currently known about bronze baby syndrome (BBS). This column will include a short review of bilirubin formation and conclude with an unusual case study of a patient who developed BBS in the absence of direct hyperbilirubinemia.

Troponin T and I can be found within the myocardial filaments. Measuring these cardiac troponin levels in full-term newborns and premature infants has not become a common practice in the neonatal intensive care unit and newborn nurseries. Research studies are discovering that an elevation in troponin T and I levels can be directly correlated with the severity of the infant's illness, and it can be potentially prognostic of morbidity. This literature analysis discusses what can be considered normal cardiac troponin levels along with what elevated levels are and possible conditions associated with those elevations.