Experimental Preemie Treatment the Focus of Conflicting Studies

The New England Journal of Medicine published two conflicting studies regarding an experimental treatment for preemies. Some researchers believe adding small amounts of nitric oxide gas to the oxygen given to premature infants with breathing problems, which is a common complication among babies born before their lungs are fully developed, can help prevent the obstacles premature births are associated to later in life.

The number of premature births across the nation has been on the rise, so finding ways to keep preemies alive and healthy is a significant goal for neonatology researchers. Some of these researchers believe nitric oxide therapy shows promise. When inhaling nitric oxide, the blood vessels in the lung tissue relaxes, making it easier for the lungs to absorb more oxygen. For several years doctors have used the therapy to help full-term babies with lung complications, and some questioned if it would have the same success in preemies.

Research at the University of Chicago, paid for in part by a company that makes inhaled nitric oxide, showed that infants who received the gas during their first week in the hospital were more likely to survive than those in the placebo group. In addition, the group had lower risks of chronic lung disease and severe bleeding in the brain, a feared side effect of nitric oxide therapy.

In one of the studies appearing in today’s journal, research following up with 138 of the 207 children in the 1999 University of Chicago study suggests nitric oxide’s benefits go beyond what even the original findings had indicated. The babies were checked up on at age two, and just 24 percent of the children who got nitric oxide had delayed mental development or disability, including cerebral palsy, blindness or hearing loss. This figure was much lower when compared to the 46 percent in the group who received the standard treatment of oxygen with no nitric oxide.

The study’s director, Dr. Michael Schreiber, professor of pediatrics at University of Chicago, noted that babies born at two pounds have only a 50 percent chance at two years of age of having normal IQs and not having cerebral palsy. Schreiber believes nitric oxide has the ability to extend life in a large group of premature infants, and also improve the quality of life that the infants lead.

While Schreiber’s study boasts optimistic results, a separate study was not as promising. After looking at 420 preemies with severe breathing problems at several hospitals across the country, researchers found nitric oxide did not reduce the chance of death or further lung problems, and the smallest preemies that got the nitric oxide were more likely to suffer bleeding in the brain than those who did not get the gas.

Although there are differences in the size and health of the preemies involved in the two studies, the director of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development advised against giving the inhaled nitric oxide to preemies weighing less than three pounds, two ounces, unless they are part of a research study. Schreiber also agreed more research is needed before the use of nitric oxide is adopted in preemies as standard care.

Researchers will continue to look for ways to reduce preemie mortality rates and birth injuries suffered because of underdevelopment, including cerebral palsy – which has no cure. For more information on birth injuries and cerebral palsy, please contact us to confer with a cerebral palsy attorney.