Dobutamine in the Treatment of Haemodynamic Insufficiency in the Immediate Postnatal Period

Haemodynamic insufficiency after birth is seen commonly in babies born prematurely and is associated with adverse outcomes. In current clinical practice, a combination of blood pressure and clinical signs is used to guide therapy. However, blood pressure is a poor surrogate of systemic and organ (brain) blood flow distribution during transitional circulation. This state is characterised by increased peripheral vascular resistance and increased afterload causing myocardial depression and impaired blood flow distribution in spite of 'normal' blood pressure. Echocardiography-Doppler (Echo-D) measurement of superior vena cava (SVC) flow has been proposed as a more clinically relevant marker of circulatory impairment shortly after birth than systemic hypotension. When there is low SVC flow, several small-scale clinical trials have suggested dobutamine as the optimal therapeutic option. However the associations between SVC flow and short- and long- term outcomes are not strong enough to allow SVC flow alone to be the basis for the inclusion of patients into a confirmatory trial to demonstrate the efficacy and safety of dobutamine. NeoCirc-001 - The primary objective is to answer some important questions required for the design of a subsequent placebo-controlled trial (NeoCirc-003), which will evaluate the effectiveness of a new neonatal formulation of dobutamine to treat haemodynamic insufficiency in the first 72 hours after birth in babies born at less than 33 weeks' gestation. Observational data will be collected from this population with a view to determining the degree to which diagnostic measures influence treatment decisions. The primary outcome is death or worst cranial ultrasound (CUS) appearance at or before 36 weeks' gestation. NeoCirc-001A - The primary objective is to estimate the elimination half-life, and consequently the time to steady-state of dobutamine in extremely premature neonates. NeoCirc-001B - The primary objective is to construct a population p