Reopening the Debate on Corticosteroids: In Reply

In Reply .— We thank Dr Gordon for his comments about the DART (Dexamethasone: A Randomized Trial) study. He is concerned mostly about the problem of spontaneous intestinal perforation (SIP), which has been described in the randomized, controlled trials (RCTs) of postnatal corticosteroids, predominantly starting in the first week of life1 rather than later. The DART study differed in that although infants were eligible after the first week of life, the median age of starting was the fourth week of life, and we observed no SIP in either group. Because of the small sample size, we recognize that …