Concordia’s success rate in treating ultra-low birth weight premature babies is on par with international standards

  On July 21, during the summer vacation, she and her parents returned to Peking Union Medical College (PUMC) to visit the medical staff who treated her. The successful survival and growth of this pocket-sized girl, who was born 7 years ago with a birth weight of 800 grams and a gestational age of 27 weeks, is a reflection of Peking Union Medical College Hospital’s 27 years of experience in treating ultra-low birth weight premature babies. Peking Union Medical College Hospital held a celebration party for her in the morning to “congratulate Jia Cing on joining the Young Pioneers”.  In April 2003, this little baby, who had lived in her mother’s belly for less than seven months, came into the world early, with a birth weight of 800 grams, a length of 33 cm, a head circumference of 23.5 cm, immature cardiovascular and gastrointestinal development, severe jaundice, unstable metabolism and low immunity. The pediatric medical staff immediately transferred her to the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) after performing an Arrhenius score (to determine whether she needed immediate emergency care by appearance, heartbeat, expression, and mobility), airway clearance, and positive pressure artificial respiration.  The pediatrics department organized a treatment team including professors, attending physicians, ward supervisors and nurses, and developed a strict treatment plan for Cai Jia-cing. Firstly, ventilator assisted breathing, parenteral nutrition support by umbilical vein cannula, and micro enteral nutrition support by nasal feeding tube were given. At the same time, 24-hour close monitoring of vital signs, such as respiration, heart rate, blood pressure, blood oxygen, blood gas, blood sugar, electrolytes, intake, urine output, liver function, infection index, etc. was carried out. After more than 80 days of hard work, Little Jia Cai was finally able to be discharged from the hospital. By this time, she had grown to 2040 grams and was able to breathe, feed and defecate on her own. These indicators, which are normal for a full-term newborn, were not easy to come by for Little Jia Caiwen. The hard work of the medical staff and the tenacity of Little Jia Caiwen’s struggle with death were all part of this.  After being discharged from the hospital, Little Jia Cao is regularly followed up at the Pediatric Premature Infant Clinic of the Union Hospital. Professor Wang Danhua monitored Little Jia Cao’s growth and development curve and provided guidance to parents on possible problems that might arise during each period. Under the guidance of the doctors and the careful care of the parents, little Jia Cai we are growing up healthy and happy. “Jia Wein is growing tall again”, “Jia Wein went to the beach”, “Jia Wein learned something again”, “Jia Wein went to school “Photos of Jia Wein at different times were passed around among the medical staff who treated her. Through the email correspondence between Jia Wein’s mother and Professor Wang, parents and medical staff shared important moments of Jia Wein’s growth.  Now, seven years later, Jia Cai has joined the Young Pioneers. She returned to Peking Union Medical College with her parents during the summer to visit the medical staff who had helped her through the difficult time of her life. Looking at this cute little girl, the doctors and nurses who treated her could not hide their excitement, and they could not help but weep at the scene of warmth.  The rescue of little Jia Cing is a concrete manifestation of the level of treatment for ultra-low birth weight children at Peking Union Medical College Hospital. Over the past decade, the Department of Pediatrics at Peking Union Medical College has successfully treated more than 200 cases of very low birth weight preterm infants with birth weight less than 1,500 grams, including more than 30 cases of ultra-low birth weight preterm infants with birth weight less than 1,000 grams. The success rate of rescuing very low birth weight preterm infants at Peking Union Medical College is 98%, and the success rate of rescuing ultra-low birth weight preterm infants is 79%, which is 80% in foreign developed countries.  The NICU of Peking Union Medical College Hospital was established in 1983, which is one of the earliest NICUs established in China. Ten years ago, with the support of the Ministry of Health’s Clinical Department Key Project “Preventing Respiratory Failure in Low Birth Weight Infants and Improving Their Quality of Survival”, the incidence of neonatal asphyxia and pulmonary hyaline membrane disease in preterm infants has been further reduced and the death rate has been improved by strengthening the collaboration between obstetrics and pediatrics. The Department of Pediatrics at Concordia focuses on the systematic management of preterm infants, firstly, on-site resuscitation to ensure the first gate of birth; through the combination of prevention and treatment of respiratory diseases, focusing on enteral and parenteral nutrition support strategies, controlling nosocomial infections and improving the quality of care, the success rate of rescuing very low birth weight infants has been greatly improved. The Department of Pediatrics has also been the first in China to use advanced treatment techniques such as pulmonary surface active substance replacement therapy, high-frequency oscillatory ventilation, central venous cannulation, erythropoietin to prevent anemia in preterm infants, and arterial catheter ligation in very/ultra-low birth weight preterm infants, which have won the first prize, second prize and third prize of medical achievements of Peking Union Medical College Hospital. The Department of Pediatrics of the Peking Union Medical College (PUMC) is also the first in China to carry out systematic management of high-risk infants for early intervention and training. It also takes advantage of multidisciplinary collaboration to screen and follow up preterm infants for fundus and hearing, and has held preterm infant fellowship meetings for many years to provide a platform for preterm infants and their parents to communicate with each other, which has greatly improved the quality of life of preterm infants.  The Pediatric NICU of Peking Union Medical College Hospital is the first to establish a regional neonatal transfer network in the northern region, receiving critically ill newborns from Beijing city, distant suburban counties and other provinces and cities. Nearly 1,000 cases of critically ill infants have been transferred and active efforts have been made in reducing neonatal mortality. In recent years, the department has applied for the joint research project of the Capital Medical Development Fund “Research on the emergency and transfer model of critical maternal and neonatal care in Beijing” to explore the most optimal and effective transfer model in Beijing and establish a training system for high-risk neonatal care, so as to comprehensively improve the emergency response capability, resuscitation skills and treatment level of hospitals at all levels. It has been trusted and widely praised by all hospitals.