Investigation of Inhaled Nitric Oxide

By 1993 we had explored the clinical applications of inhaled nitric oxide in over 200 children with pulmonary hypertension or respiratory failure (Fig. 1). The majority of these patients suffered from pulmonary hypertensive congenital heart disease and were under 1 year of age, reflecting the bias toward early surgical repair of congenital heart defects at Children s Hospi- 

FIGURE I Age analysis of 200 consecutive patients who received inhaled nitric oxide. The majority of the patients were less than 1 year old and had congenital heart disease (CHD) or persistent pulmonary hypertension of the newborn (PPHN). 

We describe here the use of inhaled nitric oxide to selectively manipulate pulmonary vascular tone in the evaluation of the candidate for reparative 

FIGURE 2 Percentage changes in hemodynamic variables from baseline values during a 15-min administration of inhaled nitric oxide in 100 children with congenital heart disease. There was marked specificity for the pulmonary circulation. HR, Heart rate b, beats Cl, cardiac index BP, mean arterial blood pressure SYR, systemic vascular resistance, mPAP, mean pulmonary artery pressure PVR, pulmonary vascular resistance. 

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Roze, J.-C., Storme, L., Zupan, V., Morville, P., Dinh-Xuan, A. T., and Mercier, J.-C. (1994). Echocardiographic investigation of inhaled nitric oxide in newborn babies with severe hypoxaemia. Lancet 344, 303-304. 

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