OLATHE, Kan., May 02, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- A multi-center randomized control trial has shown that premature infants who were on feeding tubes and who received treatment with Innara Health’s NTrainer System® demonstrated improved transition to independent oral feeding and a reduction in length of stay in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). Innara Health’s NTrainer System is an FDA-cleared medical device that assesses and develops non-nutritive suck (NNS) in infants and newborns born prematurely.
“The study demonstrates the clear benefit of interventional feeding therapy for premature and newborn infant patient populations,” said Dr. Dongli Song, the chief principal investigator of the study. “The NTrainer helped the infants who received treatment safely go home with their families sooner.”
The study included infants born between 26 0/7 and 30 6/7 weeks of gestational age, a group of which received therapy from the NTrainer System. After receiving treatment via the NTrainer three to four times a day for 10-14 days, this experimental group was found to have spent an average of 6.9 fewer days in the NICU. The experimental group also moved to full oral feeding an average of 3.7 days faster than the control group.
The infants in the experimental group were also divided into two subgroups: those who received early intervention (<31 weeks postmenstrual age) and those who received the intervention later (≥31 weeks postmenstrual age). The patients in the late intervention group moved off of feeding tubes to full oral feeding nine days faster than the control group. The late intervention group also left the NICU a full 15 days earlier.
“This is a landmark study that demonstrates how effective the use of the NTrainer is for premature infants,” said Michael Peck, CEO of Innara Health. “Healthcare CEOs and clinicians are seeking solutions to improve outcomes for premature infants and lower the NICU cost of care. The use of the NTrainer supports these initiatives with improved quality of information available to neonatal caregivers as they treat patients and improve patient safety by exposing these infants to fewer procedures, all while reducing costs.”
The results of the 210-patient study will be presented at the Pediatric Academic Societies 2016 Meeting April 30-May 3, 2016, in Baltimore.
Sites for the study, which ran from 2011 to 2015, included: Santa Clara Valley Medical Center in San Jose, California; Children's Hospital at Montefiore-Weiler Division, Albert Einstein College of Medicine in Bronx, New York; Cook Children's Medical Center in Fort Worth, Texas; Children's Hospital at Montefiore-Wakefield Division, Albert Einstein College of Medicine in Bronx, New York; and North Central Baptist Hospital in San Antonio.
About Innara Health
Innara Health’s mission is to advance the global understanding and improvement of neonatal, pediatric and adult feeding. The company offers the FDA-cleared NTrainer System, the first neonatal technology that assesses and develops non-nutritive suck (NNS) for newborns and infants born prematurely. Neonatal clinicians use the NTrainer System in children’s hospitals, medical centers and rehabilitation hospitals. For more information, visit innarahealth.com.