The Nation - News from Jan. 6, 1987

Doctors reported that premature or low-birthweight babies with breathing problems do much better without the aggressive use of respirators, drugs and other invasive procedures. The Harvard Medical School research group also said that an experimental treatment using surfactant from cows’ lungs appears to increase the survival rate of low-birthweight infants suffering from respiratory distress syndrome. Surfactant is an oily substance that is lacking in the lungs of underweight and premature newborns. The study results appeared in the journal Pediatrics.