Researchers in Melbourne have discovered a new blood test that can help predict if premature babies will go on to develop chronic lung disease. About 8% of births in Australia are pre-term and lung disease is a common complication, particularly for those born before 26 weeks.
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00:00This is a scientific breakthrough that has the potential to significantly improve the
00:06lives of children born premature.
00:08Chronic lung disease is the number one challenge for babies born pre-term and could lead to
00:13delayed development, troubles in speaking and eating, and even heart failure.
00:18Adults with the disease go on to have reduced lung capacity.
00:23It's not known which babies will go on to develop chronic lung disease and which won't.
00:27Research from the Murdoch Children's Institute could change that.
00:31Researchers have developed a world-first test that can be done within the first three days
00:36of life and looks at protein from the blood to figure out the specific treatment a baby
00:40needs at a specific moment in time.
00:43Earlier I spoke with lead researcher Prue Pereira-Fantini about her discovery.
00:48By identifying it in the first couple of days of life it will mean we have a better idea
00:52of what we actually should be doing with these babies, what treatments they might need.
00:58It's a really dynamic landscape over those first three days.
01:01Day one doesn't look like day three and so this way we'll be able to give the right treatment
01:06to the right child at the right time.
01:08Over the next few months the blood test will be replicated among 550 babies at all neonatal
01:15units in Victoria in the hope that new discoveries can be made for treatments.
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