Calgary invention helps premature babies in first minutes of life By By Marcus Hondro Nov 3, 2015 in Health A research team at the Foothills Medical Centre in Calgary have created a new medical device that may make a great difference in the lives of premature babies. The device allows babies to stay connected to the umbilical cord longer. INSPIRE for pre-terms It's portable and called INSPIR (Integrated Neonatal Support with Placental Transfusion and Resuscitation) and doctors can situate it right next to the delivering mother. It consists of blood oxygen monitors, oxygen tanks, resuscitation devices and a scale. Combined, it's a method of safely keeping baby connected to the umbilical cord while also allowing doctors to give premature babies the medical attention they need immediately after birth. Here's why it's needed: there is a procedure done for full-term babies called cord clamping that keeps them connected to the umbilical cord for the one to three minutes that studies have shown is advisable. That extra connection time reduces by 50 percent the chances of bleeding in babies' brains. It also affords extra time for nutrients to continue to be delivered to baby, such as iron, and for the continued delivery of stem cells. Cord Clamping However, premature babies are in need of very important medical care as soon as they are born so they cannot be left with Mom for the extra minutes that cord clamping requires. Now with INSPIRE they can. Dr. Sumesh Thomas, medical director of neonatology at Foothills and a part of the development of INSPIRE, “The process of delayed cord clamping allows babies to receive blood from their placentas at the time of birth," he said. "In clinical practice, babies that are the most vulnerable because they had to be delivered early are the one most unlikely to receive delayed cord clamping." Jasmina Stewart is the mother of a baby that used the device; her daughter, Anastasia was born pre-term at just over three pounds. Jasmina said Anastasia being born so small was "a very scary thing" and As part of a trial, since last May INSPIRE has been used on six occasions and the results have been positive. Dr. Thomas said they intend to conduct an even larger study on the efficacy of INSPIRE. It's portable and called INSPIR (Integrated Neonatal Support with Placental Transfusion and Resuscitation) and doctors can situate it right next to the delivering mother. It consists of blood oxygen monitors, oxygen tanks, resuscitation devices and a scale.Combined, it's a method of safely keeping baby connected to the umbilical cord while also allowing doctors to give premature babies the medical attention they need immediately after birth.Here's why it's needed: there is a procedure done for full-term babies called cord clamping that keeps them connected to the umbilical cord for the one to three minutes that studies have shown is advisable.That extra connection time reduces by 50 percent the chances of bleeding in babies' brains. It also affords extra time for nutrients to continue to be delivered to baby, such as iron, and for the continued delivery of stem cells.However, premature babies are in need of very important medical care as soon as they are born so they cannot be left with Mom for the extra minutes that cord clamping requires. Now with INSPIRE they can.Dr. Sumesh Thomas, medical director of neonatology at Foothills and a part of the development of INSPIRE, explains the need for such a piece of equipment.“The process of delayed cord clamping allows babies to receive blood from their placentas at the time of birth," he said. "In clinical practice, babies that are the most vulnerable because they had to be delivered early are the one most unlikely to receive delayed cord clamping."Jasmina Stewart is the mother of a baby that used the device; her daughter, Anastasia was born pre-term at just over three pounds. Jasmina said Anastasia being born so small was "a very scary thing" and she believes the doctors "made Anastasia’s future in life much better with their invention."As part of a trial, since last May INSPIRE has been used on six occasions and the results have been positive. Dr. Thomas said they intend to conduct an even larger study on the efficacy of INSPIRE. More about calgary foothills invention, preterm babies, Premature babies, invention helps preterm babies More news from Show all 12 calgary foothills in... preterm babies Premature babies invention helps pret...