Babies born with a fatal newborn lung disorder may have hope with nanoparticle therapy to help their newborn lungs develop properly, according to a new study. As such, the babies who are diagnosed with ACDMPV may have a chance at survival where one never existed before.

Researchers from Cincinnati Children's and the University of Cincinnati, believe they may have found a way to help babies diagnosed with alveolar capillary dysplasia with misalignment of the pulmonary veins (ACDMPV) survive longer than a few days to weeks after birth.

ACDMPV is an extremely rare lung disorder. Those who are diagnosed with the disorder have capillaries around the air sacs of the lungs that fail to develop properly, according to the Alveolar Capillary Dysplasia Association. When this happens, the oxygen being breathed in through the lungs is not circulating through the blood properly and this leads to extremely high blood pressure in a baby. Between the heart not being able to handle the high blood pressure and the lungs that do not develop properly, babies do not survive longer than a few weeks.

RELATED: 15 Signs The Baby Has Breathing Abnormalities

The disorder is so rare that since its discovery in 1948, only 200 families worldwide have been afflicted, per the publication. And the few babies who have been able to survive the diagnosis of ACDMPV have only been able to do so as a result of a lung transplant from another baby.

The study, which was published in the journal, Circulation, found that by using "high-tech nanoparticles to deliver a STAT3 gene into the lungs" the blood vessels in the lungs would be stimulated to grow, according to Medical Xpress.

To make this happen, researchers used high-tech nanoparticles on mice who were found to have ACDMPV. As a result of the therapy, according to EurekAlert!, the mice with the capillaries that did not develop properly had the deficiency corrected. Because of this, the mice had their life expectancy extended from 70 percent dying within 28 days of the diagnosis to 35 percent mortality rate in the same period with the use of the nanoparticles, per study.

This occurred by helping more blood vessels to grow, which in turn helped the lungs to develop more correctly. As a result, fewer of the test subjects died as a result of lung failure.

Researchers are heartened by the results of their study and hope that the same capillary deficiency in human babies can be corrected with the use of high-tech nanoparticles as well.

The use of high-tech nanoparticles to help treat ACDMPV in babies will require more tests and trials to be run before the therapy is deemed safe for use in newborns. There will also need to be a determination if the therapy is needed as a one-time treatment or if the high-tech nanoparticles will be needed multiple times, according to Medical Xpress.

Regardless, for those future families who will have their babies diagnosed with ACDMPV, this is a step in the right direction to having a potential cure available for their newborns versus being given a very short period to have them in their lives instead.

NEXT: Genome Sequencing Can Help Treat Babies With Mysterious Illnesses

Source: Medical Xpress, EurekAlert!, Circulation, Alveolar Capillary Dysplasia Association