A treatment for a deadly condition in newborns fails to improve outcomes, study finds
What do you do when a child is born with poor consciousness, not crying, not sucking, and not breathing on their own? For babies born with hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy, commonly called birth asphyxia, doctors have limited options. And a treatment that many had hoped would be effective turns out not to be.
A new study, published Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine, found that the hormone erythropoietin did not improve survival and other outcomes in newborns with hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy. Unexpectedly, the newborns who received the hormone were also more likely to experience a serious adverse event, potentially including death. The clinical trial of 500 infants was the culmination of decades of study, including prior work that suggested erythropoietin was safe and had promise in mice, macaques, and, in a smaller study, humans. Another clinical trial of erythropoietin is ongoing in Australia.
