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The Incubator's Journal Club

The Incubator's Journal Club

Ben Courchia MD & Daphna Yasova Barbeau MD 155 Episodes Jul 16, 2026

The Incubator's Journal Club is a weekly podcast that reviews the latest evidence in neonatology and perinatal medicine from peer-reviewed journals. Each episode breaks down important studies, focusing on methodology, key findings, and clinical impact. Designed for clinicians, nurses, and trainees, it highlights research that informs bedside practice and decision-making. The podcast provides an efficient way to stay current with practice-changing evidence in neonatal care.

Episodes

#453 - [Journal Club] - πŸ“Œ What Happened to NEC When Centers Stopped Using Probiotics?
#453 - [Journal Club] - πŸ“Œ What Happened to NEC When Centers Stopped Using Probiotics? Jul 16, 2026 982 When the FDA warning landed in late 2023, probiotic use in high-use NICUs collapsed from 86% to under 7% almost overnight. What happened to NEC? This week Daphna brings Tolia and Patel's new Journal of Perinatology analysis of the Pediatrix Clinical Data Warehouse, a natural experiment across 347 NICUs and more than 10,000 extremely preterm infants. Centers that stopped saw NEC climb from 2.7
#453 - [Journal Club] - πŸ“Œ Should We Cool 35 Week Infants with Encephalopathy?
#453 - [Journal Club] - πŸ“Œ Should We Cool 35 Week Infants with Encephalopathy? Jul 15, 2026 877 Cooling works at 36 weeks. At 35 weeks, nobody is sure. Ben brings a new Journal of Perinatology analysis of the National Inpatient Sample, covering 1.4 million infants from 2016 to 2022, asking what happens when therapeutic hypothermia is offered just below the evidence line. Cooled 35-weekers died at higher rates than cooled 36-weekers, but within the 35-week group, cooling changed nothing eithe
#453 - [Journal Club] - πŸ“Œ Can We Rewire a Preterm Baby's Brain for Language?
#453 - [Journal Club] - πŸ“Œ Can We Rewire a Preterm Baby's Brain for Language? Jul 14, 2026 1265 In this Journal Club, Daphna takes the reins with the MIND randomized controlled trial from Nathalie Maitre and colleagues in The Journal of Pediatrics. Can a multisensory bundle, combining infant-directed voice, a parent's scent, holding, and gentle containment, do more for a preterm baby's developing brain than recorded voice alone? Using event-related potentials to track how infants t
#453 - [Journal Club] - πŸ“Œ Should We Treat the PDA Based on Size Alone? (SMART PDA Trial)
#453 - [Journal Club] - πŸ“Œ Should We Treat the PDA Based on Size Alone? (SMART PDA Trial) Jul 13, 2026 2573 In this Journal Club, Ben and Daphna dig into two new papers on PDA management in our smallest patients. First, the SMART-PDA pilot RCT from Souvik Mitra and colleagues, which uses comprehensive hemodynamic screening to selectively treat high-volume shunts in infants born before 26 weeks, and whose striking Bayesian signal for reduced pulmonary hemorrhage and NEC stopped the trial early. Then a co
#450 - [Journal Club] - πŸ«€ From The Heart - Is Dopamine Still Defensible as First-Line for Neonatal Septic Shock?
#450 - [Journal Club] - πŸ«€ From The Heart - Is Dopamine Still Defensible as First-Line for Neonatal Septic Shock? Jul 1, 2026 956 In this double-blind randomized controlled trial, Adrianne and Nim examine whether norepinephrine outperforms dopamine as a first-line vasoactive agent in neonates with fluid-refractory septic shock. The primary outcome, shock reversal at 30 minutes, was not significantly different between groups, at 32 percent for norepinephrine and 46 percent for dopamine. Secondary outcomes including mortality,
#450 - [Journal Club] - πŸ«€ From The Heart - Does Early Hydrocortisone Actually Move the Needle in Fluid-Refractory Shock?
#450 - [Journal Club] - πŸ«€ From The Heart - Does Early Hydrocortisone Actually Move the Needle in Fluid-Refractory Shock? Jun 30, 2026 982 In this double-blind randomized controlled trial from northern India, Nim and Adrianne review whether early hydrocortisone reduces 14-day all-cause mortality in preterm infants with fluid-refractory shock. The primary outcome showed no statistically significant difference between groups, though an 11 percent absolute reduction in mortality in the hydrocortisone group raised clinical interest. A ma
#450 - [Journal Club] - πŸ«€From The Heart - When Nitric Oxide Fails: Is the Left Ventricle the Culprit in Septic Preterm Infants?
#450 - [Journal Club] - πŸ«€From The Heart - When Nitric Oxide Fails: Is the Left Ventricle the Culprit in Septic Preterm Infants? Jun 29, 2026 1344 In this retrospective single-center study from Toronto, Adrianne and Nim explore the echo findings of preterm infants with septic shock and hypoxemic respiratory failure. Contrary to the common assumption that elevated pulmonary vascular resistance drives hypoxemia in sepsis, the data points to left ventricular dysfunction as a key contributor. Babies with hypoxemic respiratory failure showed lowe
#447 - [Journal Club] - πŸ“Œ Is a Five-Day Antibiotic Course Enough to Treat UTIs in the NICU?
#447 - [Journal Club] - πŸ“Œ Is a Five-Day Antibiotic Course Enough to Treat UTIs in the NICU? Jun 11, 2026 1294 Is five days of antibiotics enough to treat a urinary tract infection in a NICU infant? In this Journal Club episode, Ben and Daphna review a single-center study from Nationwide Children's Hospital examining adherence and safety of a five-day antibiotic treatment guideline for culture and urinalysis-proven UTIs in the NICU. Among 77 infants with 93 bacterial UTIs, the five-day course was asso
#447 - [Journal Club] - πŸ“Œ Does Extended CPAP Reduce Intermittent Hypoxemia in Stable Preterm Infants?
#447 - [Journal Club] - πŸ“Œ Does Extended CPAP Reduce Intermittent Hypoxemia in Stable Preterm Infants? Jun 10, 2026 1097 What happens to intermittent hypoxemia when you keep a stable preterm infant on CPAP for two extra weeks? In this Journal Club episode, Ben and Daphna review a secondary analysis from the Journal of Pediatrics by Mamidi and McEvoy. Among 95 infants randomized to either two additional weeks of bubble CPAP on room air or discontinued CPAP, those in the extended CPAP group experienced significantly f
#447 - [Journal Club] - πŸ“Œ Are we missing UTIs in neonates hospitalized for unexplained jaundice?
#447 - [Journal Club] - πŸ“Œ Are we missing UTIs in neonates hospitalized for unexplained jaundice? Jun 9, 2026 916 In this Journal Club episode, Daphna reviews a retrospective cohort study from Istanbul examining clinical, laboratory, and ultrasound factors associated with UTI in neonates hospitalized for unexplained hyperbilirubinemia. Among 96 term and near-term infants, 31% had culture-proven UTIs, a striking prevalence. Pathological renal ultrasound findings were independently associated with UTI, with aff
#447 - [Journal Club] - πŸ“Œ Is phototherapy doing more harm than good in very preterm infants?
#447 - [Journal Club] - πŸ“Œ Is phototherapy doing more harm than good in very preterm infants? Jun 8, 2026 1400 In this Journal Club episode, Ben and Daphna review a nationwide Swedish cohort study examining the association between phototherapy duration and neonatal outcomes in very preterm infants (22 to 31 weeks). The study’s primary outcome, late neonatal mortality on days 8 to 27, was not significantly associated with phototherapy duration. However, longer phototherapy exposure was associated with incre
#445 - [Journal Club] - πŸ“Œ Are we missing dysphagia in very preterm infants before they leave the NICU?
#445 - [Journal Club] - πŸ“Œ Are we missing dysphagia in very preterm infants before they leave the NICU? May 28, 2026 1111 How often are we missing dysphagia in our most vulnerable NICU patients? In this episode of Journal Club, Daphna reviews a retrospective cohort study from the Journal of Perinatology examining the incidence and risk factors of dysphagia confirmed by flexible endoscopic evaluation of swallowing (FEES) in very preterm and very low birth weight infants. Among infants showing persistent feeding diffic

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