Efficiency of Pentoxifylline on late onset sepsis in preterm neonates: Random clinical trial

Abstract

Introduction: Sepsis is a diffuse infection in the blood. It is a clinical syndrome that results in dysfunction as a result of an inappropriate inflammatory response to infection. It is one of the most common causes of death, especially in premature and low birth weight infants. Due to increased activity of inflammatory cytokines in this disease The use of Pentoxifylline in combination with antibiotic therapy can be helpful. Objective: Efficiency of Pentoxifylline on late onset sepsis in preterm neonates. Method: This study is a randomized clinical trial Which was performed on 40 premature infants with late onset sepsis. these neonates are randomly divided into two groups based on Inclusion and Exclusion criteria. The intervention group received pentoxifylline 10 mg / kg orally every 8 hours for 6 days with therapeutic antibiotics and the second group, as a control group, received only therapeutic antibiotics. Results: The mean duration of hospitalization in the control group was (26 days) and in the intervention group (21 days) with (P-Value = 0.56). The mean duration of oxygen requirement was in the control group (22 days) and in the intervention group (16 days) with (p-value = 0.69). The mean duration of CRP marker to be negative in both control and intervention groups was (4 days) with (P-Value = 0.94). The mortality rate in both control and intervention groups was 1 neonate with (p-value = 0.5).

Conclusion: Use of the oral form of pentoxifylline in infants with late onset sepsis did not make a statistically difference in rate of mortality during hospitalization, duration need of Oxygen and the duration of CRP negative compared to the control group.