By Smitha Mundasad
A British baby is the first newborn in the world to receive xenon gas treatment, in an attempt to reduce the chances of brain injury.
Over 1,000 babies born at full term each year are at risk of suffering from brain injuries or death as the result of a lack of oxygen or blood supply at birth.
Baby Riley was born with no spontaneous respiratory effort. In need of urgent resuscitation, he was given the rare xenon gas at St Michael’s Hospital in Bristol by Prof. Marianne Thoresen.
An illustration of Xenon gas being given to a child
In combination with a cooling treatment, Thoresen believes that this could prevent brain injuries that are associated with conditions such as cerebral palsy.
The treatment has been developed over a number of years by Thoresen of the University of Bristol and John Dingley of Swansea University.
“In 2002, John Dingley and I realised the potential xenon and cooling might have in combination to further reduce disability,” said Thoresen.
The team has shown that in laboratory studies xenon gas adds to the protective effect of cooling on the brain.
“However we faced the challenge of how to successfully deliver this rare and extremely expensive gas to newborn babies,” continued Thoresen.
This was solved by the use of a machine invented by Dingley, who has also developed equipment to allow the use of xenon gas for adult anaesthesia.
Dingley said: “A key design feature of this machine is that it is very efficient, using less than 200ml of xenon per hour – less than the volume of a soft drink can. As even newborns breathe many litres of air per hour, any xenon-based treatment would be impossibly expensive without an economical delivery method.”
The gas has been authorised for use in a clinical trial, funded by the children’s medical research charity Sparks, and will be given to at least 12 babies over the coming months. If this feasibility trial is completed successfully, it is hoped that the gas will become available on a wider scale.