BBC: Artificial Placenta, A New Lifeline for Premature Babies?
By Jasmin Fox-Skelly
It sounds like a plot straight out of a bad science fiction movie – human babies taken from their mothers' wombs and grown inside fluid-filled pods instead. Yet that is exactly what scientists at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) in Pennsylvania in the US propose doing for infants at risk of extreme prematurity.
They are developing what they refer to as an "artificial womb", or extra-uterine environment for newborn development (Extend) to be precise. Extend is not intended to grow a fetus from conception to birth – that would be impossible even if it was desirable. Instead, it is intended to help boost the survival rate of extremely premature infants, who face a plethora of possible health effects throughout their lives.
A typical healthy pregnancy lasts around 40 weeks, with babies considered full term at 37 weeks. However sometimes complications occur in pregnancy that may result in a baby having to be delivered early.
Luckily, thanks to huge advances in neonatal medicine over the last few decades, most premature infants survive and are discharged with few complications. The most recent data shows that even 30% of 22-week-gestation patients survive if given intensive care.
"Honestly, 28 weekers and even 27 weekers do overall very well," says Stephanie Kukora, a neonatologist at Children's Mercy Hospital in Kansas City.
"It's really the babies born at 22 to 23 weeks that the outcomes are so severe that we are not sure whether the quality of life that they attain is acceptable."
Babies born on the cusp of viability often face severe health challenges. These infants weigh less than 2lb (900g) at birth, and critical organs such as the heart, the lungs, the digestive organs, and the brain are not yet developed enough to keep the baby alive without intensive medical care.
Read the full article via the BBC