#393 - [Journal Club] - 📌 Antibiotic Use in HIE, A Tale of Two Strategies

In this episode of Journal Club, Ben and Daphna dive into a multicenter retrospective study from the European Journal of Pediatrics questioning the necessity of universal empiric antibiotics in neonates undergoing therapeutic hypothermia for HIE. Comparing Italian and Belgian cohorts, the team discusses the reality of a 111 Number Needed to Treat (NNT) for a single case of culture-proven sepsis. From the diagnostic challenges of overlapping clinical markers to the fascinating "asymptote" of postnatal leukocyte trends, we explore whether it's time to shift from routine to selective antibiotic use in our most complex patients.----Antibiotic use in neonates with hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy undergoing therapeutic hypothermia: time to rethink universal empirical treatment. De Rose DU, Piersigilli F, Auriti C, Campi F, Cortazzo V, Samaey A, Carkeek K, Martini L, Maddaloni C, Santisi A, Ronci S, Iacona G, Bersani I, Savarese I, Danhaive O, Cilio MR, Bernaschi P, Dotta A, Ronchetti MP.Eur J Pediatr. 2025 Nov 22;184(12):781. doi: 10.1007/s00431-025-06652-1.PMID: 41275063 Support the showAs always, feel free to send us questions, comments, or suggestions to our email: [email protected]. You can also contact the show through Instagram or Twitter, @nicupodcast. Or contact Ben and Daphna directly via their Twitter profiles: @drnicu and @doctordaphnamd. The papers discussed in today's episode are listed and timestamped on the webpage linked below.Enjoy!