# Artificial placenta or womb for extremely preterm babies

Idea · id `maternal:idea-artificial-placenta` · Maternal & Newborn Atlas · release `fc5a600ec7387e71` (public)

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Browse, life stage: Newborn  
Browse, care area: Preterm and sick newborns  

## In plain language

A research idea: keep a very premature baby in a fluid-filled bag, with its blood oxygenated through the umbilical cord by a machine, so that its organs can keep maturing without air breathing. In 2017 a team supported fetal lambs this way for up to 4 weeks and reported normal growth, lung maturation and brain growth. This atlas records no human study.

## Technical summary

Idea, early feasibility in animals only. The study (Nature Communications 2017; open-access copy PMC5414058, CC BY) has a Corrigendum that adds a patent to the competing interests and changes no result; both were read. The authors give the problem as extreme prematurity being the leading cause of neonatal mortality and morbidity in the developed world through organ immaturity and iatrogenic injury, and say earlier extracorporeal systems had limited success. No human use, trial or approval is recorded here.

## Claims, with the population each applies to

## Context: Fetal lambs supported in an extra-uterine system (animal study)

Recipient: No clinical recipient; Population: Fetal lambs described as developmentally equivalent to the extreme premature human infant, supported in an extra-uterine device for up to 4 weeks. This is an animal study; no human infant took part.; Care setting: Laboratory animal study; Geography: Not stated in the abstract; Life stage: Fetal lambs (animal), not a human life stage; Follow-up: Support in the device for up to 4 weeks; growth, lung maturation, brain growth and myelination assessed.

### In a 2017 study in Nature Communications, a system with a pumpless oxygenator circuit connected to the fetus of a lamb through an umbilical cord interface, kept within a closed amniotic-fluid-like circuit, supported fetal lambs described as developmentally equivalent to the extreme premature human infant for up to 4 weeks. The authors report that the lambs on support maintained stable haemodynamics, normal blood gas and oxygenation parameters and patency of the fetal circulation, and, with appropriate nutritional support, showed normal somatic growth, lung maturation and brain growth and myelination.

- Category: Description
- Evidence stage: Preclinical
- Certainty: Certainty not assessed
- Applies to: Recipient: No clinical recipient; Population: Fetal lambs described as developmentally equivalent to the extreme premature human infant, supported in an extra-uterine device for up to 4 weeks. This is an animal study; no human infant took part.; Care setting: Laboratory animal study; Geography: Not stated in the abstract; Life stage: Fetal lambs (animal), not a human life stage; Follow-up: Support in the device for up to 4 weeks; growth, lung maturation, brain growth and myelination assessed.
- Limitations: An animal study, read from the abstract of the open-access (CC BY) copy. No human use is recorded in this atlas. PubMed links a Corrigendum (a published erratum), which was read: the correction adds a patent to the Competing interests statement and does not change a result. It states no human outcome and no long-term outcome of the lambs after the support period.
- Last checked: 2026-10-15
- Source problem: a cited source is corrected. Check the sources before relying on this claim.
- Sources:
  1. Supports: An extra-uterine system to physiologically support the extreme premature lamb (Publication, edition PMC Open Access subset full-text XML, from NCBI E-utilities. PubMed links a Corrigendum (Nat Commun 2017;8:15794, PMID 28534492; PMC5457507). It adds a patent to the Competing interests statement and does not change any result.) <https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5414058/>
     Locator: Abstract, sentences 3 to 6. Retrieved 2026-10-15T13:49:26Z. Source state: Corrected. Snapshot hash: c0e17ed290b77fe929f75ae93d30da098dae0cb461073361f047d12218d36d7b.
     How it applies: The device and what the lambs showed.
  2. Background: Corrigendum: An extra-uterine system to physiologically support the extreme premature lamb (Publication, edition PMC Open Access subset full-text XML of the corrigendum, from NCBI E-utilities. PubMed lists it as a Published Erratum (PMID 28534492).) <https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5457507/>
     Locator: Corrigendum, body. Retrieved 2026-10-15T14:01:20Z. Source state: Current. Snapshot hash: ba81fcd08da245cdcba945e3b5ee1a31b4ab94806d7b854b74ba3e0a43d2f24f.
     How it applies: What the published correction changes.

## Connected pages

- Extreme prematurity (existing page): Preterm birth (`maternal:preterm-birth`)
- The lamb study reports lung maturation on the system: Bronchopulmonary dysplasia remains common among extremely preterm survivors (`maternal:bottleneck-bpd-prevention`)
- Filed under this front: Newborn support: warmth, breathing, feeding (`maternal:front-newborn-support`)

## Provenance

Content hash: 5176d0d1fb5e4bab1d039825b45b3f71a64856d0c7218150126b18d610f373c9
Last substantive edit: 2026-10-15
Evidence last checked: 2026-10-15