Inhaled nitric oxide: Current clinical concepts.
Nitric oxide (NO) has come far since being discovered serendipitously to relax vascular smooth muscle. Initially, administered to animals to reduce pulmonary artery pressures and improve oxygenation. It now enjoys FDA approval for administration to newborns with pulmonary hypertension but is used common place for other critical cardiopulmonary ailments. While never quite living up to expectations, newer applications show greater promise as a therapy especially in the area of ischemia-reperfusion. The following will give a clinical overview of inhaled nitric oxide as a gas, as applied to the pediatric patient population, and to those adults suffering with cardiopulmonary and hematologic disease. Lastly, due to more recent discoveries, the effects of how NO may be used to treat disorders such as ischemia-reperfusion, will also be reviewed.
Department of Medicine, University of Washington Medical Center, Seattle, WA, United States.
Pavan
P
Bhatraju
Division of Cardiothoracic Anesthesiology, Pediatric Cardiac Section, Department of Anesthesiology, The University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, United States.
Jack
J
Crawford
Division of Cardiothoracic Anesthesiology, Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine, University of Washington Medical Center, Seattle, WA, United States.
Michael
M
Hall
Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine, University of Washington Medical Center, 1959 NE Pacific St., Suite EE-201, Seattle, WA 98195-6540, United States. Electronic address: jdlang@uw.edu.
John D
JD
Lang
ARDS; Inhaled nitric oxide; Injury; Ischemia; Lung injury; Nitric oxide; Nitrite; Pulmonary hypertension; Reperfusion; Transplantation