Brain damage at birth is a horrible thing to happen to a baby. Brain cells are very vulnerable to hypoxic / ischemic damage (the latter term referring to restricted blood supply), which makes birth a dangerous time. Therefore, it was cheering to read a BBC news item
First baby given xenon gas to prevent brain injury
which led me to the Bristol University press release First newborn receives xenon gas in bid to prevent brain injury which begins
In a world first, xenon gas has been successfully delivered to a newborn baby in a bid to prevent brain injury following a lack of oxygen at birth. This pioneering technique was developed by Professor Marianne Thoresen of the University of Bristol and carried out at St Michael’s Hospital, part of University Hospitals Bristol NHS Foundation Trust.
Every year in the UK, more than 1,000 otherwise healthy babies born at full term die or suffer brain injury caused by a lack of oxygen and/or blood supply at birth. This can lead to lifelong problems such as cerebral palsy.
But why xenon? NMDA receptors are a very important part of the nervous system related to learning and memory, but as I read it, under conditions of oxygen deprivation they malfunction and damage the nerve cells. Xenon is one of three anaesthetics that show neuroprotective effects, the other two being
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| Nitrous oxide (laughing gas) | Ketamine |
Of these, xenon is a particularly powerful anaesthetic, but work in the last decade, for example
Ma, D.; Wilhelm, S.; Maze, M.; Franks, N.P. (2002). "Neuroprotective and neurotoxic properties of the 'inert' gas, xenon". British Journal of Anaesthesia 89 (5): 739–746
has shown that it does not have the side-effects associated with the other two.
Previously, rapid cooling of the body by a few degrees has shown to have significant protective effects for newborns under hypoxic/ischemic stress, but along with this the additional application of xenon has scored its first human success.
The trick has been to apply this rare and costly gas in a bit of technical wizardry which can recycle it in real-time, so conserving it at site. To which I can only add – more strength to their bow!
