This article provides a glimpse of the innovative work being conducted in several pediatric specialties every day at Loma Linda. A variety of respiratory disorders in newborns are associated with a condition called pulmonary hypertension. This condition occurs when pulmonary blood vessels undergo persistent spasms that decrease the blood flow to the lungs, thus reducing the amount of oxygen absorbed by the blood. One or two babies out of 1,000 are affected by this disorder. Researchers at Loma Linda University, Stanford University, and the University of California at Davis, have turned to a gas that occurs naturally in the human body to offer relief to these patients.
Nitric oxide is a gas produced by cells lining blood vessels in the human body.
But in low doses, inhaled nitric oxide is used to help newborns overcome their respiratory problems. Before the discovery of inhaled nitric oxide, doctors had no treatment options for spasms of pulmonary blood vessels. Apart from reducing spasms of the blood vessels, nitric oxide also relaxes muscles around airways thus making it easier to breathe. Gerald Nystrom, MD, associate professor of pediatrics in the School of Medicine, and chief of the division of neonatology in the Children's Hospital, says that one of the advantages of using inhaled nitric oxide is that it specifically acts on pulmonary vessels without affecting blood pressure. Dr. Nystrom points out that the new treatment offers a ray of hope for premature and full-term infants battling breathing disorders.