BRIEF RESEARCH REPORT article
Front. Pediatr.
Sec. Neonatology
Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fped.2025.1607907
Tachycardia and Persistent Pulmonary Hypertension of the Newborn
Provisionally accepted
- King's College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, London, United Kingdom
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Background: It is not known whether tachycardia in persistent pulmonary hypertension of the newborn (PPHN) is due to the use of inotropic agents or is a pathophysiological process related to the disease per se. We aimed to test the hypothesis that tachycardia in PPHN would be related to non-invasive indices of PPHN.Methods: Retrospective study of ventilated infants with echocardiographically confirmed PPHN at the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit of King's College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust. The difference of the partial pressure of arterial (PaCO 2 ) to endtidal CO 2 (EtCO 2 ) or PaCO 2 -EtCO 2 gradient was calculated as an index of PPHN severity and was related to the degree of tachycardia at acute PPHN and after resolution of PPHN (pre-extubation).Results: Fifteen infants with PPHN were studied with a median (IQR) gestational age of 35.7 (34.1 -40.3) weeks and birth weight of 2.95 (2.17 -3.20) kg. The median (IQR) heart rate was higher during acute bpm] compared to pre-extubation [119 (111 -136) bpm, p=0.016]. The difference in the heart rate at acute illness and pre-extubation was significantly related to the difference in the PaCO 2 -EtCO 2 gradient (correlation coefficient=0.732, p=0.016).There was a significant association between tachycardia and the severity of PPHN in ventilated infants, possibly describing that tachycardia is the result of PPHN per se, as well as the effect of inotropes.
Keywords: pulmonary hypertension, End-tidal carbon dioxide, arterial carbon dioxide, differential saturation, ventilation - mechanical
Received: 08 Apr 2025; Accepted: 13 May 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Kaltsogianni, Bhat, Greenough and Dassios. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Theo Dassios, King's College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, London, United Kingdom
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