Washing of premature babies brains tested
Filed under: Premature babies — Alan @ 4:38 am
A new study suggests that premature babies may have better survival rates if a technique that in effect ‘washes out’ their brains when severely ill is used.
One of the highest complications associated with premature babies is bleeding in the brain because it can easily lead to either brain damage or death. However, a new technique that drains out the blood while replacing it with new fluid was shown to significantly reduce the risk by a Bristol University study.
The technique is theorized to help improve the survival chances of around 100 babies every year.
It takes a few days to complete the technique in full and close monitoring of the pressure in the baby’s brain must be conducted according to researchers who have found the results to be encouraging.
The new treatment would only be practiced on babies that have large haemorrhages which cause the head and brain to expand; which is a condition formally known in the medical community as hydrocephalus.
The usual treatment of such a condition involves inserting needles into the spine or head to remove the fluid repeatedly over a period of months before finally shunt is placed into the baby to drain the fluid out through the abdomen.
Out of the 39 babies that received the new technique, called Drift, at the age of two 54% had died or were disabled compared to the 71% who had died or become seriously disabled using the usual treatment of the condition.
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