Home - Dr John Dingley - 'Baby Riley'

Xenon gas used in a bid to reduce brain injury in newborns

An ongoing research study in newborn babies investigating the feasibility of using inhaled xenon gas to prevent brain injury is to be the subject of a BBC2 Horizon documentary this coming Monday 27th September at 21.00.

In March this year, in a bid to prevent brain injury, Dr John Dingley, Consultant Anaesthetist and Reader in Anaesthetics at Swansea University’s School of Medicine, became the first doctor to administer xenon gas to a newborn - baby ‘Riley' - who suffered oxygen deprivation at birth. Since then, Dr Dingley has successfully used this gas in a further seven babies at risk of developing brain damage.

Baby ‘Riley’, born by emergency Caesarean section in Bath at full term, showed early signs of brain injury and was immediately transferred to St Michael’s Hospital, Bristol for ‘cooling’.  After being cooled by Professor Marianne Thoresen to 33.5 degrees Celsius, Dr Dingley then connected baby Riley up to his xenon breathing system, which works in conjunction with the mechanical lung ventilator, and administered the gas from his workstation at the side of the baby incubator for a period of up to 12 hours.

Riley was then kept cool for 72 hours; slowly re-warmed and was able to breathe without assistance on day five.  On day seven, Riley was alert, able to look at his mother’s face, hold up his head and begin to take milk.

Since 1998, St Michael’s Hospital and the University of Bristol had been pioneering new cooling treatments for brain injury in babies since Marianne Thoresen - Professor of Neonatal Neuroscience at the University of Bristol - showed that cooling babies after a lack of oxygen could reduce damage in the newborn brain. However, it was accepted that cooling only partially reduced the onset of disability and the search had been focused on finding a second treatment that could be added to cooling to further reduce disability.  Commenting, Professor Marianne Thoresen, said:

“Xenon is a very rare and chemically inert anaesthetic gas found in tiny quantities in the air that we breathe. In 2002 John Dingley and I realised the potential xenon and cooling might have in combination to further reduce disability. Over the past eight years, we have shown in the laboratory that xenon doubles the protective effect of cooling on the brain; however we faced the challenge of how to safely and effectively deliver this rare and extremely expensive gas to newborn babies.”

For over 10 years, Dr Dingley had been developing equipment in Swansea University for xenon anaesthesia in adults and has now developed the concept to successfully deliver the gas to babies.  Commenting Dr Dingley, said:

“The main design feature of this machine is that it is very efficient, using less than 200ml of xenon per hour – less than the volume of a soft drinks can. Xenon is a precious and finite resource and difficult to extract so it can cost up to £30 per litre. As mechanical ventilators for   newborns consume many litres of gas per minute , any xenon based treatment would be impossibly expensive without a far more economical delivery method.”  

He continued: “Despite these challenges, the lack of side-effects and brain protecting properties of xenon make it uniquely attractive as a potential treatment to apply alongside cooling in these babies. We are also very grateful to SPARKS, the children’s medical research charity, for supporting us in making this happen.”

Professor Thoresen and Dr Dingley’s previously successful research work into cooling and the increased survival chances offered by xenon have been funded through the children’s medical research charity; SPARKS, which has committed almost £800,000 to the team’s pioneering work.

The Horizon feature will be aired on Monday 27th September on BBC2 at 21.00. 

Media Contact:

Sian Newman - Communications Manager

School of Medicine, Swansea University

Direct Dial: 01792 602362

Mobile: 07717 651280

Email: s.y.newman@swansea.ac.uk .

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

via swan.ac.uk