To receive daily emails from Breaking Christian News to your inbox CLICK HERE


SHARE THIS ARTICLE Printer friendly version of this page

"Artificial Womb" Could Offer New Hope for Premature Babies

Sally Robertson, BSC : Apr 26, 2017  News-Medical.net

Researchers have designed a womb-like device that could allow premature babies to develop their lungs and organs in the critical few weeks that remain before they face the outside world.

[News-Medical.Net] In animal studies, the artificial womb provided a prenatal, fluid-filled environment in which premature lambs stayed alive and grew for four weeks, which is the longest time to date. (Screengrab: Nature Communications/via CNN)

Leader of the research and fetal surgeon at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP), Alan Flake, says the lambs "appear to have normal development in all respects."

The lambs could breathe normally, open their eyes, swallow and had normal neurological function and organ maturity, important improvement over the incubation and ventilating devices currently used to help keep babies alive.

Flake and team hope the technology could one day be used to treat tiny, premature human babies and help them to grow up healthy.

Advances in neonatal care have increased the survival of premature babies, but those pushing the limits of viability (22 to 23 weeks of gestation) only have a 30 to 50% chance of survival. Those that do survive are at a 90% risk of morbidity and severe illnesses such as lung disease, cerebral palsy and complications caused by underdeveloped organs.

As reported in Nature Communications, Flake and team tested the device using eight fetal lambs, which have very similar prenatal lung development to humans. The lambs were physiologically equivalent to human babies of 23- to 24-week gestation.

The device provides a fluid-filled, temperature-controlled, near-sterile environment in which a baby can breathe amniotic fluid as it would do in a real womb, whilst the heart pumps blood through the umbilical cord to a machine that adds oxygen and removes carbon dioxide. (Screengrab: Nature Communications/via CNN)

Designer of the flow apparatus, Marcus Davey (also from CHOP) explains: "Fetal lungs are designed to function in fluid, and we simulate that environment here, allowing the lungs and other organs to develop, while supplying nutrients and growth factors."

The goal is to see the babies through from 23 weeks of gestation to 28 weeks, when the lungs are mature enough for the baby to breathe air and the most severe health outcomes are no longer likely.

Flake and team will continue to refine and safety-test the device, which will need to pass through animal trials before humans studies could be considered. It will also need to be down-sized, since human babies are only one-third the size of the lambs used in the study. The researchers believe the technology could be ready for such tests within five years.







SHARE THIS ARTICLE Printer friendly version of this page

To receive daily emails from Breaking Christian News to your inbox CLICK HERE

Other Recent Articles from Breaking Christian News

Trump Under Fire for Endorsing the Bible, Urging Americans to Pray

Whistleblower Claims Stormy Daniels 'Hush Money' Scheme Cooked Up by Michael Cohen to Extort Trump before 2016 Election

Speaker Johnson Announces He'll Invite Netanyahu to Address Congress

Federal Appeals Court Rules Pennsylvania Must Only Count Mail Ballots With Dates, Signatures

Illegal Alien Charged with Murdering a Michigan Woman Was Deported Under Trump But Snuck Back into US Under Biden's Watch

President Trump to Join Wake Honoring Slain NYPD Officer, While Biden Attends Fundraiser

Woke Disney Surrenders!

Illegals Using Fake Skimmers at Self-Checkouts to Drain Consumers' Bank Accounts; Here's How to Guard Yourself

Elon Musk to Pay Embattled Doctor's Legal Fees after Speaking Out against COVID Lockdowns

Safety of Women Hangs in Balance after Oral Arguments on Abortion Pill Regulation

New Federal Gun Grab Law Would Criminalize Shooting Ranges, and Even Private Security

Treasury Sec. Yellen: Biden Has NO Plan to Save Social Security

Maryland Governor Says 'Keep on Praying' for Families of Missing Workers after Baltimore Bridge Collapse

Chick-fil-A Abandons Long-Held 'No Antibiotics' Pledge on Chicken

The War in Myanmar: Karenni Resistance Fighters Ask for Prayer and Practical Help

The World Is Facing a Major Population Crisis by 2075 If Birth Rates Keep Falling

FDA Admits COVID Vaccines Cause Seizures in Toddlers

'Hamas Is Celebrating' after US Abstains from UN Security Council Ceasefire Vote: Netanyahu Cancels Visit

Kamala Harris Won't Disclose Why Biden Campaign Is Active on TikTok Despite Security Worries

Special Counsel Report Reveals University of Delaware Misled Courts to Hide Biden's Senate Records That Likely Hold Sexual Assault Complaint Filed by Tara Reade



Search the Articles Archives

Keyword:  
Author:  
Words Posted On:  
Day Month Year



BCN Plus

Follow BCN on Twitter
Are You Praying for Our Government Leaders?
BCN Staff

Steve Shultz
Steve Shultz, Managing Editor
Founder and Owner


Aimee Herd
Aimee Herd, Editor


BCN Plus
Are You Praying for President Trump?
 
 

All articles on this site and emails from BCN are copyrighted property of Breaking Christian News. Permission is given to link to, or share a BCN story if proper attribution is given to both the original writer and summarizer of the story. Breaking Christian News 2005-2019. All Rights Reserved.


Breaking Christian News is a division of Elijah List Publications, Inc. All Rights Reserved


Disclaimer: Articles and links, as well as the source articles linked to; do not necessarily reflect the opinion of Breaking Christian News.

editor@breakingchristiannews.com