Although nitric oxide can halve the risk of developmental problems in premature babies with undeveloped lungs, the gas could be harmful to newborns who are too small and too ill, according to two studies published on Thursday in the New England Journal of Medicine. The findings mean doctors should avoid using the treatment during the first week of life in premature babies who are seriously ill and weigh less than 1,000 grams (2.2 pounds), Richard Martin and Michelle Walsh wrote in an editorial in the same publication where the studies appear, according to Reuters. "Short-term use of inhaled nitric oxide cannot be considered an effective rescue therapy for very preterm infants with profound respiratory failure," said Martin and Walsh, both of Rainbow Babies and Children's Hospital in Cleveland. The good news for slightly larger, healthier premature infants is that the gas makes the lungs mature rapidly, cutting the risk of developmental problems in half. That could help about half of the 60,000 premature infants born each year with dangerously underdeveloped lungs. "Babies born at two pounds (0.97 kg) have only a 50 percent chance at 2 years of age of being considered totally normal," said pediatrician Michael Schreiber of the University of Chicago, whose team tracked 138 children. --More 1938 Local Time 1638 GMT
