A research group, consisting of specialists from the Philadelphia Children’s Clinical Hospital, developed and conducted the first tests of the Biobag artificial uterus. While the experiment has been withstood premature lambs, but the results are more than impressive: soon the human babies born ahead of schedule will have a chance for a full development.
Since about 15 million children are born in prematurely every year, the problem of maintaining their viability is very acute in pediatrics. A child born earlier than 37 weeks from the moment of pregnancy is considered premature (the norm is 39-40 weeks), and the term of viability is considered to be a period of 22-24 weeks. In such children, not all organs are well developed, and they are not able to exist outside the maternal womb without additional support. As a result, infants develop various pathologies, in the future reduce the quality of their life. The novelty from Philadelphia, the artificial uterus, imitates the conditions of the maternal womb, so the child receives the time necessary for full development.
Inside it is circulated by a synthesized amniotic fluid, a physiologically equivalent medium inside the uterus, and oxygen is administered through the umbilical cord, which is not cut after giving birth. The device also supports a comfortable temperature, light level, pressure, protects the baby from the risk of infection with various infections to which he has not yet been adapted. The main life indicators of the child are displayed by electronics for a convenient display.
Testing on lambs that develop similarly to people showed that premature babies of ages of 23–24 weeks develop without pathologies, their wool grows in time, no problems with activity, they normally open their eyes after the “second birth”. However, scientists have yet to carry out numerous tests on the experimental advice before launching the artificial womb Biobag into production. In practice, this can take up to ten years.
Source: Newatlas.com
A research group, consisting of specialists from the Philadelphia Children’s Clinical Hospital, developed and conducted the first tests of the Biobag artificial uterus. While the experiment has been withstood premature lambs, but the results are more than impressive: soon the human babies born ahead of schedule will have a chance for a full development.
Since about 15 million children are born in prematurely every year, the problem of maintaining their viability is very acute in pediatrics. A child born earlier than 37 weeks from the moment of pregnancy is considered premature (the norm is 39-40 weeks), and the term of viability is considered to be a period of 22-24 weeks. In such children, not all organs are well developed, and they are not able to exist outside the maternal womb without additional support. As a result, infants develop various pathologies, in the future reduce the quality of their life. The novelty from Philadelphia, the artificial uterus, imitates the conditions of the maternal womb, so the child receives the time necessary for full development.
Inside it is circulated by a synthesized amniotic fluid, a physiologically equivalent medium inside the uterus, and oxygen is administered through the umbilical cord, which is not cut after giving birth. The device also supports a comfortable temperature, light level, pressure, protects the baby from the risk of infection with various infections to which he has not yet been adapted. The main life indicators of the child are displayed by electronics for a convenient display.
Testing on lambs that develop similarly to people showed that premature babies of ages of 23–24 weeks develop without pathologies, their wool grows in time, no problems with activity, they normally open their eyes after the “second birth”. However, scientists have yet to carry out numerous tests on the experimental advice before launching the artificial womb Biobag into production. In practice, this can take up to ten years.
Source: Newatlas.com