(Ivanhoe Newswire) – New research may offer hope for extremely preterm
infants. Advances in medical interventions have resulted in higher survival
rates for extremely preterm infants.
In a study of more than 1,000 extremely preterm infants born in Sweden,
researchers found encouraging data on live birth and survival rates. Researchers
say improvements in perinatal – the period shortly before and after birth –
medicine have increased infant survival rates so that neonatal – the first four
weeks after birth – intensive care can be life saving.
“Overall, one-year survival was 70 percent in extremely preterm infants born
alive at 22 to 26 weeks of gestation in Sweden during 2004-2007,” study authors
wrote. “Proactive perinatal management is likely to have contributed to this
outcome. Therefore, non-initiation or withdrawal of intensive care for extremely
preterm infants cannot be based solely on a notion of unlikely survival.”
Pre-birth treatment with tocolytics (a drug that delays or stops labor),
post-birth treatment with surfactant (a fluid that is produced shortly before
birth and prevents the lung from filling with water) and birth at a level III
hospital were significantly associated with lower risk of infant death.
SOURCE: The Journal of the American Medical Association, 2009;301[21]:2225-2233
