Three-year follow up of term and near-term infants treated with inhaled nitric oxide.

BACKGROUND

The present study describes the outcome at 3 years in term and near-term infants treated with inhaled nitric oxide (iNO) for persistent pulmonary hypertension of the newborn (PPHN).

METHODS

The study population consisted of 18 infants delivered at 34 weeks by best obstetric estimate who were admitted to the neonatal intensive care units with a diagnosis of PPHN.

RESULTS

Eighteen infants (mean gestational age 38.5 +/- 2.6 weeks, mean birthweight 3015 +/- 587 g) were treated with iNO. The mean oxygenation index before iNO was 27.2 +/- 15.2. Responses to iNO were classified into three groups: (i) early response in eight infants; (ii) late response in two; and (iii) poor response in eight infants. Three infants died within seven postnatal days. Fifteen surviving infants were followed up to 3 years. The mean developmental scale was 98.4 +/- 9.0. One infant was diagnosed with severe neurodevelopmental disability due to cerebral palsy. Another infant was diagnosed with mild neurodevelopmental disability because of a low developmental scale. No infant showed significant hearing loss. Five infants had reactive airway disease (RAD) at 18 months, these infants required a significantly longer duration of mechanical ventilation in their neonatal period than non-RAD infants (P = 0.02). The frequency of survival with normal neurodevelopmental outcome was significantly higher in the early response group than the late or poor response groups (P = 0.03).

CONCLUSION

In iNO-treated PPHN, mortality and neurodevelopmental outcome were associated with response to iNO, and pulmonary outcome was associated with duration of mechanical ventilation.