Hospital in Prokocim begins cutting edge research of premature babies

"It\'s certainly one of the most pioneering projects. Such studies have not been conducted before anywhere in the world" - said at a press conference Prof. Jacek J. Pietrzyk, Head of the Department of Paediatrics, University Children\'s Hospital.

The research project NEOMICS, worth PLN 4 million, is entirely funded by the Norwegian Financial Mechanism.

The study will continue until 2016, and it will be conducted simultaneously in Poland and Norway.

Doctors in Kraków will examine 120 infants born before the 30th week of pregnancy. After birth, they will collect a small portion of the umbilical cord, and then, when the children are 5-6 days old, and 36 weeks old (counted from the mother\'s last menstrual period) - a small sample of blood. The samples will be examined genetically using the microarray method - a modern technique of molecular biology.

In turn, Norwegian researchers will experiment in newborn mice. They will observe the effects of oxygen on particularly sensitive organs such as the lungs, retina, brain, liver. Mice will also receive substances that could prevent the development of diseases associated with premature birth.

Summary of Norwegian and Polish test results will help determine whether children born prematurely have a genetic predisposition to developing complications. The most common of them are chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and retinopathy of prematurity, visual impairment that can lead to blindness. "With the discovery of genetic factors that increase the risk of disease, we will be able to prevent the development of diseases in preterm infants from the earliest moments of life" - said paediatrician Przemysław Kwinta.

He also explained that among premature babies, children who weigh less than 1.8 kg require special help. They need to be protected, inter alia, against heat loss, assisted in breathing. However, newborns weighing less than 1 kg need help the most and it is their genes Kraków doctors will study.

"After discharge from the hospital, preterm infants still require long-term rehabilitation and a number of examinations. We want these children to be like their peers. We want to improve their quality of life" - noted Kwinta.

According to Central Statistical Office data, approximately 35.2 thousand children were born in Małopolska in 2012. Nearly one percent of them, about 350, weighed less than 1.5 kg and required treatment in the clinic in Prokocim. In recent years, hospitalized preterm infants mortality decreased from 20 percent to 5-6 percent.

The research project is a continuation of similar genetic research conducted by the clinic in Prokocim in cooperation with the University of Oslo in 2008-2011. Researchers assessed, among other things, the toxic effect of oxygen on the functions of human genes. As a result, they managed to identify some genetic risk factors of prematurity complications. The results of the previous project have been reported by reputable international medical journals.

Department of Paediatrics of the University Children\'s Hospital will conduct research in collaboration with the Medical University of Warsaw. (PAP)

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