Aggressive phototherapy improves neurodevelopmental outcomes

[Guest guest]

Researchers find aggressive phototherapy can improve neurodevelopmental outcomes

in some preemies

http://www.cnsfoundation.org/site/News2?news_iv_ctrl=-1 & page=NewsArticle & id=8235\

& autologin=true

 

October 29, 2008

Source: University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston

Researchers at The University of Texas Medical School at Houston say the use of

aggressive phototherapy reduces the odds that tiny premature infants will

develop neurodevelopmental impairment such as cerebral palsy, blindness,

deafness or physical or mental challenges. The study, titled " Aggressive Versus

Conservative Phototherapy for Infants with Extremely Low Birth Weight, " is

published in the Oct. 30, 2008 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

The study was a multi-center clinical trial funded by the Neonatal Research

Network of the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and

Human Development (NICHD), and the UT Medical School at Houston was the lead

center in designing and conducting it.

" Before this study, we had very limited information from clinical research to

indicate how phototherapy should be used in small premature babies. The only

previous major clinical trial was performed more than 30 years ago and included

only a few infants who weighed less than 1,000 grams, or 2.3 ounces. With all

the advances in obstetric and neonatal care, these infants are much more likely

to survive today, and we need large clinical trials like this to know how to

achieve the best possible long-term outcomes, " said co-author Jon E. Tyson,

M.D., professor of pediatrics and obstetrics and the Bain Distinguished

Professor in Medicine and Public Health at the UT Medical School at Houston.

Neonatal jaundice is a yellowing of the skin and other tissues in a newborn due

to high levels of bilirubin, an indication that red blood cells are being broken

down too quickly for the liver to process. The condition is caused by the

newborn's overall physiologic immaturity, including immaturity of the liver.

Phototherapy helps to reduce the bilirubin level and the risk of brain damage

that can occur when bilirubin reaches high levels and crosses over from the

blood into the brain.

The study involved nearly 2,000 infants who were born at 501 to 1,000 grams

birth weight between September 2002 and April 2005 in hospitals of the Neonatal

Research Network, including Children's Memorial Hermann Hospital and the

County Hospital District's Lyndon B. General Hospital.

Aggressive phototherapy reduced the infants' chances of having severe

neurodevelopmental impairments, said , M.D., former associate

professor of pediatrics at the UT Medical School at Houston and principal

investigator of the Neonatal Research Network study. " There was a 14 percent

reduction in neurodevelopment impairment with aggressive phototherapy. This

relative risk reduction was statistically significant, and we did not see any

evidence of harm in the study's larger infants, those weighing 751 to 1,000

grams at birth, " she said. Phototherapy was deemed aggressive when started in

the first 24 hours of life and used until the bilirubin remained at very low

levels.

In the smaller babies, the ones weighing 501-750 grams, Tyson said, the results

suggest that the reduction in profound impairment may be offset by a trend

toward a somewhat higher mortality rate. However, this increase was not

statistically significant and may have simply occurred by chance. Tyson added

that the Neonatal Research Network is in the planning stages of a trial which

would investigate another treatment option for jaundice.

Love, Gabby. :0)

http://stemcellforautism.blogspot.com/

 

" I know of nobody who is purely Autistic or purely neurotypical. Even God had

some Autistic moments, which is why the planets all spin. " ~ Jerry Newport