(Reuters) — Scientists in the United States have developed a fluid-filled womb-like bag known as an extra-uterine support device that could transform care for extremely premature babies, significantly improving chances of survival.
In pre-clinical studies with lambs, details of which were published on Tuesday (April 25) in the journal Nature Communications, the researchers were able to mimic the womb environment and the functions of the placenta, giving premature offspring a crucial opportunity to develop their lungs and other organs.
Around 30,000 babies in the United States alone are born critically early – at between 23 and 26 weeks of gestation, the researchers said.
At that age, a human baby weighs little more than 500 grams (1.1 lb), its lungs are not able to cope with air and its chances of survival are low. Death rates are up to 70 percent and those who do survive face life-long disability.
Alan Flake, a specialist surgeon at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia who led the development of the new device, said his team’s aim was to develop a bridge between the mother’s womb and the outside world, so that babies could be brought over the 28-week threshold, when their life chances are dramatically improved.
It could take up to another 10 years, but by then he hopes to have a licensed device in which babies born very prematurely are given the chance to develop in fluid-filled chambers, rather than lying in incubators being artificially ventilated.
Flake said the success of the system was due to its mimicking life in the uterus as closely as possible.
