User login
Credit: Bertrand Devouard
Erythropoietin (EPO) can reduce the risk of brain injury in preterm infants, a new study suggests.
Infants who received 3 doses of EPO within 42 hours of birth were less likely than their untreated peers to have abnormal scores for white matter injury, white matter signal intensity, periventricular white matter loss, and gray matter injury.
Russia Ha-Vinh Leuchter, MD, of the University Hospital of Geneva in Switzerland, and her colleagues recounted these findings in JAMA.
The researchers evaluated 495 infants who were born in Switzerland between 2005 and 2012—at 26 weeks of gestation to 31 weeks and 6 days of gestation.
The children were randomized to receive EPO (n=256) or placebo (n=239) intravenously at 3 time points: before they reached 3 hours of age, at 12 to 18 hours after birth, and at 36 to 42 hours after birth.
Due to the limited availability of MRI, the researchers were only able to assess brain injury in a nonrandomized subset of 165 infants. Seventy-seven of these children received EPO, and 88 received placebo.
The patients underwent MRI at a median gestation age of 40 weeks and 5 days (range, 35 weeks and 5 days to 44 weeks and 6 days).
“We found that the brains of the children who had received the treatment had much less damage than those in the control group,” Dr Ha-Vinh Leuchter said. “This is the first time that the beneficial effect of the EPO hormone on the brains of premature babies has been shown.”
Specifically, the results showed that, at term-equivalent age, infants treated with EPO were less likely than controls to have abnormal scores for white matter injury (22% vs 36%), white matter signal intensity (3% vs 11%), periventricular white matter loss (18% vs 33%), and gray matter injury (7% vs 19%).
These results are only the first part of this study, according to the researchers. The second—and main—part of the work will focus on the neurocognitive development of these children, who will take part in various developmental tests at 2 and 5 years of age.
“[The tests] should confirm the effect that EPO treatment has on the neurodevelopmental disabilities that very premature babies often show during their infancy,” said Petra Hüppi, MD, also of the University Hospital of Geneva.
“If this does turn out to be the case, we will have taken an important step in preventing brain damage and its long-term consequences in premature babies.” 
Credit: Bertrand Devouard
Erythropoietin (EPO) can reduce the risk of brain injury in preterm infants, a new study suggests.
Infants who received 3 doses of EPO within 42 hours of birth were less likely than their untreated peers to have abnormal scores for white matter injury, white matter signal intensity, periventricular white matter loss, and gray matter injury.
Russia Ha-Vinh Leuchter, MD, of the University Hospital of Geneva in Switzerland, and her colleagues recounted these findings in JAMA.
The researchers evaluated 495 infants who were born in Switzerland between 2005 and 2012—at 26 weeks of gestation to 31 weeks and 6 days of gestation.
The children were randomized to receive EPO (n=256) or placebo (n=239) intravenously at 3 time points: before they reached 3 hours of age, at 12 to 18 hours after birth, and at 36 to 42 hours after birth.
Due to the limited availability of MRI, the researchers were only able to assess brain injury in a nonrandomized subset of 165 infants. Seventy-seven of these children received EPO, and 88 received placebo.
The patients underwent MRI at a median gestation age of 40 weeks and 5 days (range, 35 weeks and 5 days to 44 weeks and 6 days).
“We found that the brains of the children who had received the treatment had much less damage than those in the control group,” Dr Ha-Vinh Leuchter said. “This is the first time that the beneficial effect of the EPO hormone on the brains of premature babies has been shown.”
Specifically, the results showed that, at term-equivalent age, infants treated with EPO were less likely than controls to have abnormal scores for white matter injury (22% vs 36%), white matter signal intensity (3% vs 11%), periventricular white matter loss (18% vs 33%), and gray matter injury (7% vs 19%).
These results are only the first part of this study, according to the researchers. The second—and main—part of the work will focus on the neurocognitive development of these children, who will take part in various developmental tests at 2 and 5 years of age.
“[The tests] should confirm the effect that EPO treatment has on the neurodevelopmental disabilities that very premature babies often show during their infancy,” said Petra Hüppi, MD, also of the University Hospital of Geneva.
“If this does turn out to be the case, we will have taken an important step in preventing brain damage and its long-term consequences in premature babies.”
Credit: Bertrand Devouard
Erythropoietin (EPO) can reduce the risk of brain injury in preterm infants, a new study suggests.
Infants who received 3 doses of EPO within 42 hours of birth were less likely than their untreated peers to have abnormal scores for white matter injury, white matter signal intensity, periventricular white matter loss, and gray matter injury.
Russia Ha-Vinh Leuchter, MD, of the University Hospital of Geneva in Switzerland, and her colleagues recounted these findings in JAMA.
The researchers evaluated 495 infants who were born in Switzerland between 2005 and 2012—at 26 weeks of gestation to 31 weeks and 6 days of gestation.
The children were randomized to receive EPO (n=256) or placebo (n=239) intravenously at 3 time points: before they reached 3 hours of age, at 12 to 18 hours after birth, and at 36 to 42 hours after birth.
Due to the limited availability of MRI, the researchers were only able to assess brain injury in a nonrandomized subset of 165 infants. Seventy-seven of these children received EPO, and 88 received placebo.
The patients underwent MRI at a median gestation age of 40 weeks and 5 days (range, 35 weeks and 5 days to 44 weeks and 6 days).
“We found that the brains of the children who had received the treatment had much less damage than those in the control group,” Dr Ha-Vinh Leuchter said. “This is the first time that the beneficial effect of the EPO hormone on the brains of premature babies has been shown.”
Specifically, the results showed that, at term-equivalent age, infants treated with EPO were less likely than controls to have abnormal scores for white matter injury (22% vs 36%), white matter signal intensity (3% vs 11%), periventricular white matter loss (18% vs 33%), and gray matter injury (7% vs 19%).
These results are only the first part of this study, according to the researchers. The second—and main—part of the work will focus on the neurocognitive development of these children, who will take part in various developmental tests at 2 and 5 years of age.
“[The tests] should confirm the effect that EPO treatment has on the neurodevelopmental disabilities that very premature babies often show during their infancy,” said Petra Hüppi, MD, also of the University Hospital of Geneva.
“If this does turn out to be the case, we will have taken an important step in preventing brain damage and its long-term consequences in premature babies.”