Researchers from the University of Geneva and University Hospital of Geneva (HUG) found out that giving three doses of erythropoietin (EPO) can reduce brain damage in infants.
Erythropoietin is a type of hormone that helps the body create more red blood cells. At least 400,000 children were born prematurely in Europe and these babies showed great risks in having brain damage, according to the World Health Organization. Doctors are able to determine if a baby has brain damage by using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and offer possible ways to dodge the effects of the condition. Brain damage may impair a child's motor and cognitive skills, and it can lead to Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) and persistent learning difficulties.
Petra Susan, study lead author and professor in the Faculty of Medicine at UNIGE and head of the Division of Development and Growth in the Department of Paediatrics at HUG, worked with her colleagues in analyzing the real effects of the EPO hormone on infants.
The researchers looked at the data of 495 children born between 2005 and 2012 in Switzerland. The results of the study showed that those who received the hormone treatment showed lesser brain damage compared to those who had placebo based on their MRI scans.
"We found that the brains of the children who had received the treatment had much less damage than those in the control group, who had been given a placebo," Russia Ha-Vinh Leuchter, co-author of the study, said in a statement."This is the first time that the beneficial effect of the EPO hormone on the brains of premature babies has been shown."
The researchers plan to continue their study to focus on how the hormone treatment affects a child's neurocognitive development until five years old.
This study was published in the Aug. 28 issue of Journal of American Medical Association.
