Lancet
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Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter Study Clinical Trial
Inhaled nitric oxide in premature neonates with severe hypoxaemic respiratory failure: a randomised controlled trial.
Inhaled nitric oxide improves oxygenation and lessens the need for extracorporeal-membrane oxygenation in full-term neonates with hypoxaemic respiratory failure and persistent pulmonary hypertension, but potential adverse effects are intracranial haemorrhage and chronic lung disease. We investigated whether low-dose inhaled nitric oxide would improve survival in premature neonates with unresponsive severe hypoxaemic respiratory failure, and would not increase the frequency or severity of intracranial haemorrhage or chronic lung disease. ⋯ Low-dose inhaled nitric oxide improved oxygenation but did not improve survival in severely hypoxaemic premature neonates. Low-dose nitric oxide in the most critically ill premature neonates does not increase the risk of intracranial haemorrhage, and may decrease risk of chronic lung injury.