Abstract
Background/Aims: Previous studies demonstrated that dopamine infusion reduces plasma concentration of thyroxine (T4), thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH), prolactin (PRL), and growth hormone (GH) in adults, children and infants. The purpose of this prospective study was to evaluate the relationship between dopamine infusion and the dynamics of pituitary hormones in preterm newborns weighing less than 1500 g (very low birth weight infants, VLBW) admitted in a neonatal intensive care unit of a university hospital over one year period.
Methods: A total of 97 preterm newborns were enrolled and divided into two groups: group B included hypotensive infants treated with plasma expanders and dopamine infusion; group A was the control group including newborns never treated with dopamine. The newborns were studied through blood samples taken every morning for ten days. Newborns of group B were studied during dopamine infusion and after its withdrawal.
Results: Among the VLBW newborns given dopamine, a reduction of T4, TSH and PRL levels was noticed since the first day of treatment (reduction of TSH levels 41.8% in group A vs 68% in group B; T4 decrease of 10.3% in group A vs 41.9% in group B; PRL decrease of 4.3% in group A vs. 59.7% in group B), and a rebound of their levels was evident since the first day after its interruption. Instead, the postprandial GH levels were roughly constant. GH concentrations were a little lower in newborns treated with dopamine, and a slight increase was observed after its withdrawal. However, observed differences were not statistically significant.
Conclusions: The results suggest that dopamine infusion reduces T4, TSH and PRL plasma levels in preterm VLBW infants and have no effect on postprandial GH rate. This hormonal suppression reverses rapidly after dopamine withdrawal. This observation suggests that the iatrogenic pituitary suppression probably cannot produce long term injuries.
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Filippi, L., Pezzati, M., Poggi, C. et al. 118 Dopamine Infusion and Pituitary Suppression in Very Low Birth Weight Infants. Pediatr Res 58, 374 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-200508000-00147
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-200508000-00147
