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This week on Healthwatch, we're talking about health issues that affect babies. Premature birth carries risks for a number of disabilities. One of them is called retinopathy of prematurity, which can lead to blindness. The condition appears to be triggered in babies who are kept in incubators with higher oxygen levels because their lungs are underdeveloped and they have trouble breathing. They get used to those high oxygen levels as normal. When the infants grow stronger and can start breathing normally, their bodies react as though oxygen levels are too low. Doctors at UT Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas have found that this situation causes a particular protein to over respond, creating extra blood vessels in the retina.
Dr. Joseph Garcia, a UT Southwestern researcher, says finding a way to stop this response could lead to a way to prevent blindness in premature infants.
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September 2005
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