Decreased surfactant level in the lung with oligohydramnios: A morphometric and biochemical study

with our experience, in which all four cases of gramnegative sepsis in infants given antibiotics through the catheter were cured. Our success rate may be spuriously elevated by the small numbers in which treatment was attempted, and because physicians may have selected patients on clinical grounds in whom treatment was likely to fail with the catheter in place, and removed these catheters immediately. Our experience is similar to that of others with respect to fungemia in the presence of catheters; no infections were successfully treated with the catheter in place. This report is limited by its retrospective nature; the next logical step is to confirm these observations in prospective studies. Until more is known, clinicians caring for infants who have had bowel resected should maintain a high index of suspicion for sepsis. Initial empiric antibiotic therapy for suspected episodes of sepsis should include an antibiotic effective against gram-negative organisms in addition to one against staphylococcal organisms.