Evaluation of the Effectiveness of Pentoxifylline Use in Neonatal Sepsis

Aim: Neonatal sepsis refers to an infection involving the bloodstream in infants under 28 days old. It continues to remain a leading cause of morbidity and mortality among infants,. For this reason, it is important to monitor babies closely and initiate early and effective treatment if sepsis is suspected. In some cases, supportive treatments are needed in addition to appropriate antibiotic therapy to ensure clinical stability. Our aim with this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of pentoxifylline use as supportive treatment in neonatal sepsis. Materials and Methods: Patients who were followed up in our clinic with a diagnosis of sepsis between January 2020 and December 2024 and who had pentoxifylline added to their treatment were included in the study. Patient data were obtained from patient files and the hospital patient record and follow-up system and evaluated retrospectively. Results: All patients who were followed up with sepsis and received pentoxifylline treatment were evaluated. A total of 45 infants were included in the study. Demographic, clinical and laboratory data about the patients were shown in tables. It was observed that the frequency of mortality, BPD and NEC in our patients was higher than reported national/international data. Conclusion: Mortality, NEC and BPD ratios were found to be higher than expected in our group. This may be due to the fact that pentoxifylline was administered to patients with impaired circulation and was added to the treatment late. Randomized controlled studies with larger numbers of patients with more homogeneous clinical conditions are needed to more accurately reveal the effect of pentoxifylline on neonatal mortality and morbidities.