Efficacy of Sildenafil in Infants with Bronchopulmonary Dysplasia-Associated Pulmonary Hypertension

Background: Pulmonary hypertension (PH) is a common comorbidity in infants with bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD). Sildenafil is a widely recognized therapy for PH, but its efficacy in infants with BPD is questionable. We propose to assess the efficacy of sildenafil in BPD-associated PH as evaluated...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published inChildren (Basel) Vol. 10; no. 8; p. 1397
Main Authors Dillon, Kacie, Lamba, Vineet, Philip, Ranjit R, Weems, Mark F, Talati, Ajay J
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Basel MDPI AG 01.08.2023
MDPI
Subjects
Angiogenesis
Birth weight
BPD
Brief Report
Bronchopulmonary dysplasia
Cardiovascular disease
Care and treatment
Congenital diseases
Drug dosages
Drug therapy
Infants
Lung diseases
Medical research
Medicine, Experimental
Neonatology
Ostomy
Patients
Pediatric cardiology
Pediatrics
Pulmonary hypertension
Sildenafil
Online AccessGet full text

Cover

More Information
Summary:Background: Pulmonary hypertension (PH) is a common comorbidity in infants with bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD). Sildenafil is a widely recognized therapy for PH, but its efficacy in infants with BPD is questionable. We propose to assess the efficacy of sildenafil in BPD-associated PH as evaluated based on transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) changes and clinical measures. Methods: Data were retrospectively and prospectively collected. Inclusion criteria were gestational age (GA) < 32 weeks, birth weight (BW) < 1500 g with severe BPD, diagnosis of PH via TTE on sildenafil treatment. PH was evaluated via TTE, which was performed monthly after 36 weeks post-menstrual age (PMA) as a standard of care, and re-reviewed by a single pediatric cardiologist, who was blind to the initial reading. Results: In total, 19 patients were enrolled in the study, having a median GA of 24 3/7 weeks (IQR 23 5/7–25 5/7) and a median BW of 598 g (IQR 572–735). Sildenafil treatment was started at a median PMA of 40.4 weeks. The median respiratory severity score (RSS) at 28 d was 6.5, RSS and FiO2 showed improvement about 12 weeks after starting sildenafil treatment. Conclusions: Improvement in PH was noted via TTE, and patients had improvement in their RSS and FiO2 after prolonged therapy. However, TTE improvements did not correlate with clinical improvements.
Bibliography:ObjectType-Article-1
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
ObjectType-Feature-2
content type line 23
ISSN:2227-9067
2227-9067
DOI:10.3390/children10081397