[What is new in neonatology?].

Advances in neonatology have been consistent in recent years, both from practical and theoretical points of view. Improved outcome is the result of major developments in neonatal intensive care, but also of the improved organization of perinatal care. Recent concepts on the inflammatory mechanisms of preterm labor and periventricular leukomalacia are opening a new area for preventive intervention. The observed association between the occurrence of diseases such as hypertension in adulthood and intrauterine growth retardation offers a particular insight into the long term programming of physiologic regulations in the fetus. At the bedside, advances in neonatal intensive care have been significant, especially in treating neonatal respiratory failure. This review will focus on recent developments in premature anemia, and in fluid-electrolyte therapy in very low infant birth weights, as both topics have been less frequently reviewed in the pediatric literature. Finally, ethical issues have deserved considerable attention, such as therapeutic intervention in extremely low birth weight infants, decision-taking, and practices in withholding or withdrawing therapy during neonatal intensive care, along with the need for long term follow up and assistance to the patients and their families.