Artificial womb offers hope for premature babies – Researchers

Researchers have successfully used an artificial womb to incubate healthy baby lambs for a period of one week, and hope that it can be used in future technology for premature babies. The researchers from the University of Western Australia, Women and Infants Research Foundation, and Tohoku University Hospital in Japan sought to develop an effective […]

Researchers have successfully used an artificial womb to incubate healthy baby lambs for a period of one week, and hope that it can be used in future technology for premature babies.

The researchers from the University of Western Australia, Women and Infants Research Foundation, and Tohoku University Hospital in Japan sought to develop an effective treatment strategy for extremely preterm infants born at the border of viability that is 22-23 weeks.

They said that several lambs grew for a week in the artificial womb and hoped that the introduction of an artificial womb could help premature babies develop their organs and get them to a healthier size before being born. 

The study which was published in the American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology revealed that preterm lambs were successfully maintained in a healthy, infection-free condition with significant growth, for a period of one week using ex-vivo uterine environment (EVE) therapy.

“Designing treatment strategies for extremely preterm infants is a challenge,” said Chief Investigator in Australia, Associate Professor Matt Kemp “At this gestational age, the lungs are often too structurally and functionally under-developed for the baby to breathe easily.”

Kemp, said that with further development, EVE therapy could prevent the severe morbidity suffered by extremely premature infants by potentially offering a medical technology that does not exist at the moment.

He said: “At its core, our equipment is essentially is a high-tech amniotic fluid bath combined with an artificial placenta. Put those together, and with careful maintenance what you’ve got is an artificial womb.

“By providing an alternative means of gas exchange for the fetus, we hoped to spare the extremely preterm cardiopulmonary system from ventilation-derived injury, and save the lives of those babies whose lungs are too immature to breathe properly. The end goal is to provide preterm babies the chance to better develop their lungs and other important organs before being brought into the world.”

He said EVE therapy, and the use of sheep as a model of human pregnancy and the newborn, has been a long-standing research interest of the group.

 “ We now have a much better understanding of what works and what doesn’t, and although significant development is required, a life support system based around EVE therapy may provide an avenue to improve outcomes for extremely preterm infants,” he said.