 News
31st March 2006
Baby breathing aid did not cause problems
A way to help premature babies breathe does not cause long-term
harm as previously feared, a study has shown.
The results followed a trial in the early nineties which suggested a
link between premature death and brain damage after babies were treated
using CNEP therapy - continuous negative-extrathoracic pressure.
CNEP, pioneered by controversial Stoke-based paediatrician Professor
David Southall, applies pressure to a child's chest to aid breathing.
A team of researchers from Nottingham followed up 133 of the 205 children
still alive - now aged between nine and 15 - who were involved in the
original CNEP study.
Half had the CNEP treatment and the rest were given the standard treatment
of a breathing tube being inserted through the larynx - part of the windpipe.
They found that no evidence was seen of a higher risk of long-term disabilities
for children given CNEP.
Professor Neil Marlow, of Queen's Medical Centre, who led the study,
said, "Our long-term study of the original trial participants suggests
no evidence of disadvantage, in terms of long-term disability or psychological
outcomes, from the use of CNEP."
The original CNEP trial has also been investigated by the hospital twice
and been the subject of police inquiries.
Carl and Debbie Henshall, of Clayton in Staffordshire, whose daughter
died after the trial, recently won an Appeal Court hearing which said
the GMC should review its decision to reject their complaints that doctors
did not give properly informed consent to medics for their girls to take
part.
In a commentary piece in this week's Lancet, Professor Southall and Dr
Martin Samuels, who also led the original CNEP study, welcomed the latest
findings.
"We fear that over the last six years many infants with bronchiolitis
[a potentially fatal chest infection] presenting to our children's unit
have received unnecessarily intensive care."
Professor Sir Alan Craft, President of the Royal College of Paediatrics
and Child Health, and Dr Neil McIntosh from the University of Edinburgh
Department of Child Life and Health supported Professor Southall's work.
They said CNEP should probably be retained for older children with bronchiolitis
because other techniques have been developed since the original trial
to help other babies.
Professor Southall was found guilty of serious professional misconduct
by the General Medical Council last year, over a matter not related to
the CNEP trial.
He had suggested the husband of solicitor Sally Clark, who was wrongly
convicted of murdering her two sons, was responsible for the babies' deaths,
after watching a TV documentary.
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