A new study published in The Lancet provides hope that brain injuries sustained by premature babies may be treatable even well after birth.
The study, conducted by an international team of researchers, looked at data from over 1,000 premature babies who were born between 22 and 34 weeks gestation and had brain ultrasounds at birth and again at 18-22 months.
They found that 76% of the infants had sustained some form of brain injury, with the most common being white matter damage.
However, the team also found that the severity of the brain damage was significantly reduced in those infants who received treatment with steroids before birth.
This is the first large-scale study to show that treatment with steroids before birth can reduce the severity of brain damage in preemies.
The findings provide new hope that brain injuries sustained by premature babies may be treatable, even well after birth.
Brain injury in preemies may be treatable even well after birth
A new study has found that brain injury in preterm infants may be treatable even well after birth. This is the first study to show that this may be possible, and it opens up new potential treatments for these vulnerable babies.
The study, conducted by researchers at the University of Edinburgh, looked at a group of preterm infants who had suffered brain injury. Some of these babies had damage to the white matter of the brain, which is the part of the brain responsible for communication and movement.
The researchers found that, even though the damage to the white matter was severe, the babies’ brains were able to repair themselves to some extent. This was most likely due to the fact that the white matter is very adaptable in early life.
The findings suggest that it may be possible to treat brain injury in preterm infants even after they have left the hospital. This is an important step forward in the care of these vulnerable babies.
