Trial reportBMC pediatrics2026
Cytokine patterns in very low birth weight infants under different cord clamping strategies: preliminary EXPLAIN trial data.
Trial report in BMC pediatrics, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT03916159 (Extrauterine Placental Transfusion In Neonatal Resuscitation), which is not on this map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Extrauterine Placental Transfusion In Neonatal Resuscitation (EXPLAIN) of Very Low Birth Weight Infants (VLBW): A Randomized Clinical Trial
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
8 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundDelayed umbilical cord clamping (DCC) improves survival and hematologic outcomes in preterm infants. Strategies that provide initial respiratory support before cord clamping may prolong intact placental circulation beyond standard time-based DCC in very low birth weight (VLBW) infants. Whether prolonged intact placental circulation modifies neonatal cytokine patterns remains unclear.
methodsThis pre-specified secondary analysis of a single-center randomized controlled trial (Extrauterine Placental Transfusion in Resuscitation of VLBW Infants [EXPLAIN]) included preterm infants with a birth weight < 1500 g and gestational age > 23 6/7 weeks delivered by cesarean section between May 2019 and June 2021. Infants were randomized to either extrauterine placental perfusion (EPP group) with intact placental circulation or time-based DCC (DCC group). Samples were obtained from umbilical cord blood at cord clamping (d0) and venous blood on postnatal day 28 (d28). Twenty-seven cytokines were quantified using multiplex ELISAs.
resultsSamples were available from 44 infants; 1 infant was excluded a priori because of neonatal sepsis, leaving 43 infants in the cytokine analysis set. Mean time until cord clamping was 469.6 s in the EPP group and 40.8 s in the DCC group (p < 0.001). At d0, significant relative differences between groups were observed for IL-1ra, IL-17, and IP-10. At d28, EPP was associated with lower IP-10 concentrations than DCC. No broad or consistent differences in cytokine profiles were observed between groups.
conclusionsIn this small exploratory secondary analysis, EPP was not associated with broad cytokine changes compared with DCC in VLBW infants, despite markedly prolonged placental circulation. These findings may support the biological feasibility of EPP and may indicate that prolonged placental perfusion is not associated with major systemic cytokine perturbation. Given the limited sample size, the results should be considered hypothesis-generating and require confirmation in larger studies.
trial registrationClinicaltrials.gov (NCT03916159, registered April 05, 2019).
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