Retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) is a vasoproliferative disorder of the retina occurring principally in new born preterm infants. It is an avoidable cause of childhood blindness. With the increase in the survivaL of preterm babies, ROP has become the Leading cause of preventabLe chiLdhood blindness throughout the world. A simpLe screening test done within a few weeks after birth by an ophthalmologist can avoid this preventable blindness. Although screening guidelines and protocols are strictly followed in the developed nations, it lacks in developing economies like India and China, which have the highest number of preterm deliveries in the world. The burden of this blindness in these countries is set to increase tremendously in the future, if corrective steps are not taken immediately. ROP first emerged in 1940s and 1950s, when it was called retrolental fibroplasia. Several epidemics of this disease were and are still occurring in different regions of the world and since then a lot of research has been done on this disease. However, till date very few comprehensive review articles covering all the aspects of ROP are published. This review highlights the past, present and future strategies in managing this disease. It would help the pediatricians to update their current knowledge on ROP.

Аcute bronchiolitis is the most common form of infection caused by respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) in young children. Children with bronchiolitis during the first two years of life, more often during the first 6 months, wheeze and have severe respiratory failure caused by generalized inflammation. Premature infants, children with bronchopulmonary dysplasia, cystic fibrosis, hemodynamically significant congenital heart diseases and some other diseases are at risk for severe RSV bronchiolitis requiring hospitalization, intensive therapy, including respiratory therapy. Сommunity-acquired RSV infection and nosocomial RSV outbreaks are possible. Bronchiolitis incidence has seasonality (autumn and spring). Therapeutic intervention, which proved their efficiency from the standpoint of evidence-based medicine, are few. Therefore immunoprophyLaxis of RSV infection in chiLdren from the risk-groups with paLivizumab, humanized monocLonaL antibody against F-protein RSV, is reLevant. The articLe presents description of the etioLogy, epidemioLogy, risk factors for severe RSV infection in chiLdren. ReLevancy of immunoprophyLaxis of RSV infection with paLivizumab is proved, information on the efficiency of the drug is given. The structure of immunized chiLdren in Russian Federation in the period from 2010 to 2016 is presented.

This article aimsto evaluate the effectiveness of respiratory support and to analyse the outcomes in preterm infants depending on the applied methods of artificial lung ventilation (non-invasive and invasive AVL).

Material and methods. The study includes 83 preterm neonates born in Vilnius Maternity Hospital and Vilnius University Hospital 'Santariskiu Klinikos', Lithuania, since 2013 to 2015. Median gestationalage 32 (28 to 35) weeks with birth weight 1830 (1040 to 2420) g. Depending on body weight, all babies were divided into the groups: group 1 (n=18) - preterm neonates with extremely low body weight at birth (under 1000 g); group 2 (n=17) - babies with very low body weight (1000 to 1499 g); group 3 (n=48) - babies with low body weight at birth (1500 g and more).

Results. Invasive artificial lung ventilation (iAVL) immediately after birth was applied only in group I (27.8% of patients in this group), including 4 (22.2%) patients ventilated after surfactant administration. In groups 2 and 3, iAVL was not used in the delivery room. After admission to ICU, fifteen more babies required tracheal intubation and iAVL (18.1% of all patients), after earlyn CPAP therapy respiratory support in the delivery room. Totally 11 (61.1%) patients required AVL at ICU in group 1, while in group 2 and 3 - 4 (23.5%) and 6 (12.5%) correspondingly (р<0.05). It was established that in group 1 and 2 intraventricular haemorrhageswere diagnosed substantially more often than in group 3 patients (р_2,3=0,01; р_1,3=0,00). Application of invasive ventilation is a risk factor for IVH in babies with extremely low body weight at birth.

Conclusion. Early application of non-invasive respiratory support techniques (nasal CPAP) in delivery room prevents tracheal intubation and invasive artificial lung ventilation in 40% of neonates with very low and low body weight at birth.

The purpose of the study: a complex assessment of factors that adversely affect the functional state of the brain of children who underwent surgery in the neonatal period.

Material and methods. The study included 79 full-term newborns with malformations of internal organs, borned in V.I. Kulakov Obstetrics, Gynecology and Perinatology Research Center of Ministry of Healthcare of the Russian Federation. Patients were divided into 2 groups: the study group included 40 newborns with signs of perinatal brain lesion; the control group consisted of 39 newborns, without signs of central nervous system (CNS) lesions. All patients underwent surgery under general anesthesia for the main disease, in the period of newborns. After the surgical treatment 100% of children underwent postoperative anesthesia with 3 combinations of drugs: 1) two or more narcotic analgesics, 2) one narcotic ± non-narcotic opioid analgesic, 3) non-narcotic opioid analgesic. Evaluation of the brain was based on the examination by neurologist and neurosonography. COMFORT and CRIES scales were used to evaluate the effectiveness of anesthesia throughout the observation period.

Results. Most often, CNS dysfunction was associated with congenital diaphragmatic hernia (CDH) (22.5% in the study group versus 0% in the control group) and gastroschisis (22.5% in the study group versus 7.7% in the control group). Also, patients with CDH required a complex postoperative analgesia with a combination of 2 or more narcotic analgesics. According to the results of pain assessment on the COMFORT and CRIES scales, postoperative analgesia was effective in both groups. It was reliably revealed that in the study group children spent longer on mechanical ventilation, and they also performed repeated surgical interventions more often.

Conclusions. In newborns with congenital malformations of internal organs, requiring early surgical intervention, the cause of violations of the functional state of the central nervous system is not so much the use of narcotic and non-narcotic analgesics, but rather the influence of a complex of unfavorable factors.

Early enteral feeding is an extremely important aspect of the care of a premature baby, maintaining the normal functioning of organs and systems in the neonatal period, and for the long-term prognosis. Features of the digestive tract, often accompanied by severe pathology affect tolerance to enteral feeding in preterm infants, particularly in children with xtremely low birth weight and very low birth weight. In the absence or insufficient amount of breast milk you must choose a substrate for a premature infant feeding, which will enable faster to adapt to the gastrointestinal tract enteral nutrition and will provide the growth rate, the approximate to the fetal growth.

Available literature data suggest that prematurely at 34-36 weeks gestation age birth of infant with congenital diaphragmatic hernia can cause relatively less severity of pulmonary hypoplasia and less tendency to pulmonary hypertension, as compared to full-term patient. As an illustration of this assumption the clinical observation is given. It is necessary to conduct clinical studies to clarify the impact of prematurity on the progress of disease and mortality in infants with congenital diaphragmatic hernia.

Congenital hypopituitarism is a very rare disease. Early signs of this disease are nonspecific, which makes diagnosis and timely treatment difficult.

Material and methods. We described 6 clinical cases with congenital hypopituitarism of various genesis.

Results. The earliest manifestations of the disease in all children were cholestasis and hypoglycemia, varying degrees of severity (hypoglycemic convulsions in two children, expressed cholestasis with cytolysis in three patients). After the commencement of hormone replacement therapy, the signs of cholestasis and hypoglycemia completely stopped.

Thrombosis in newborns without timeLy and adequate treatment often Leads to death. The articLe describes the resuLts of successfuL treatment of two newborn patients with venous deep vein thrombosis of the Left upper extremity and catheter-associated thrombosis of the inferior vena cava in the postoperative period. The features of cLinicaL cases and the chosen tactics of conducting newborn patients are considered.

A female preterm newborn developed a congenital cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection, resulting in the clinical setting of hepatitis, thrombocytopenia, neutropenia, lower airways infection, and enterocolitis. An antiviral therapy was used during 6 month - intravenous ganciclovir and oral valganciclovir.