Artificial Placenta Could Save Premature Infants

Artificial Placenta Could Save Premature Infants
Apr-30-16
An innovative approach to treating premature babies sees recreating the womb environment using an artificial placenta created by a team from the University of Michigan.

The artificial placenta system uses extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) to send oxygen to blood, bypassing the lungs. Although in use for some time, the team modified the ECMO system to suitable for treating premature babies. To prove the feasibility of their system, the team plans to use the artificial placenta to bring a fetal lamb to normal newborn physiology.

According to George Mychaliska M.D, the approach is quite new. “We thought, ‘Why don’t we solve the problem of prematurity by re-creating the intrauterine environment?’ Maybe we should treat this tiny baby like a fetus. Maybe we should treat these babies as if they are still in the womb. This is a complete paradigm shift.”



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