2024-02-20 20:39:36
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Good news for newborn babies who were deprived of oxygen at birth and therefore suffered brain damage. The drug sildenafil, known by the brand name Viagra, can offer a solution.
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Every year, around 15 million babies worldwide are born with oxygen deficiency, writes the popular science news site Scientias. Now the only treatment for this is ‘therapeutic hypothermia’, which involves cooling the baby’s body to limit the damage.
But this treatment does not always work well. Many babies suffer from persistent complaints due to a lack of oxygen. Such as epilepsy or, later in life, learning problems.
Read more: Asphyxia: oxygen deficiency around birth
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Research in rats showed evidence that sildenafil, a drug that improves blood flow, protects brain cells. It would also ensure that new brain cells are created. That is why researchers from Canada’s McGill University Health Center (MUHC) wanted to see whether the drug can also repair brain damage in newborn babies.
That would be good news, because the only treatment methods available now are, for example, physiotherapy or occupational therapy, the researchers say in the press release. “If we had a drug that could repair the babies’ brains, it would change the future of these babies.”
Read more: Newborn baby: the first 30 minutes
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Neonatologist Pia Wintermark tested sildenafil on 24 babies who had suffered from oxygen deficiency at birth. Despite the ‘cooling method’ they had suffered brain damage. Eight of these babies were given sildenafil twice a day for a week from the second or third day after birth. Three other babies received a placebo.
Five of the eight babies given sildenafil had partial recovery from brain damage 30 days after birth. In addition, they had fewer signs of brain volume loss. This was not the case among the three babies who received the placebo.
The study is small, the researchers explain. To be able to say more about what sildenafil can do for babies with oxygen deprivation, a larger study must first be conducted. Also to determine, for example, how much of the medicine the babies should receive.
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But sildenafil could change the lives of babies with neonatal encephalopathy around the world, according to the researchers. Especially because it is a cheap and easy to administer drug.
Source: Sciences, McGill University Health Centre
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