Preterm infants born younger than 29 weeks’ gestational age who were treated for pulmonary hypoplasia with inhaled nitric oxide did not have an increased chance of in-hospital survival, according to findings published in JAMA Pediatrics.
“Because blood vessel growth in the lung parallels airway development, pulmonary hypoplasia is often complicated by persistent pulmonary hypertension of the newborn, or PPHN,” Kevin R. Ellsworth, MD, from the division of neonatal medicine at the Mayo Clinic, and colleagues wrote.
“Pulmonary hypertension is a major contributor to physiologic compromise in these patients, including severe, refractory hypoxemic respiratory failure. To date, to our knowledge, no postnatal therapy has been shown to consistently increase survival in preterm neonates with pulmonary hypoplasia.”
