Fluid restriction and prophylactic indomethacin versus prophylactic indomethacin alone for prevention of morbidity and mortality in extremely low birth weight infants.

Although survival of extremely low birth weight (ELBW) infants has dramatically improved over the last decades, the rate of bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) has not changed. The use of indomethacin prophylaxis in ELBW infants results in improved short-term outcomes with no effect on long-term outcomes. The addition of fluid restriction to the indomethacin prophylaxis policy could result in a reduction of BPD and improve long-term survival without neurosensory impairment at eighteen months corrected age.