Juul SE, Comstock BA, Wadhawan R, et al. - Experts designed a randomized trial to investigate the utility and safety of erythropoietin for neuroprotection in preterm infants. They randomly allocated a sum of 941 infants who were born at 24 weeks 0 days to 27 weeks 6 days of gestation to receive erythropoietin or placebo within 24 hours after birth. They administered Erythropoietin intravenously at a dose of 1000 U per kilogram of body weight every 48 hours for a total of six doses, followed by a maintenance dose of 400 U per kilogram three times per week by subcutaneous injection through 32 completed weeks of postmenstrual age. Then, they administered the placebo as intravenous saline followed by sham injections. The data indicated that high-dose erythropoietin treatment administered to extremely preterm infants from 24 hours after birth through 32 weeks of postmenstrual age did not appear in a lower risk of severe neurodevelopmental impairment or death at 2 years of age.