Thanks to a new counterintuitive study, it seems that premature babies could stand a better chance of survival for how doctors manage a condition that can cause severe bleeding.
The trail, led by UK and Irish institutions, looked into the best treatment for babies born before 37 weeks whose blood is severely deficient in platelets.
This is a crucial part of clotting, and there has been benefits found from giving less treatment.
So what did it discover?
They found that giving fewer platelet transfusions and only to tots with the lowest platelet levels to begin with, could prevent death or serious bleeding in seven out of every 100 that were suffering from the condition.
This came as a surprise to the researchers and only was identified as a result of the parents agreeing to participate in spite of the uncertainties.
Professor Simon Stanworth, who helped in leading the study, said, ''the findings have major implications for how neonatologists use platelet transfusions for sick premature babies with low platelets.''
He continued, ''we need to remember that platelet transfusions are biological products, and they do have risks. This study also raises questions about using prophylactic platelet transfusions routinely in other patient groups with very low platelets.”
The grand number of premature babies with low platelet counts came to 660, making it the largest such study to date.
The research is published in the New England Journal of Medicine, and it looks set to help many premature babies suffering with this low platelet count.
