Evaluation of Oral Prostaglandin E1 in Management of Ductus Dependent Congenital Heart Disease

摘要

Purpose: Intravenous prostaglandin E1 (PGE1) infusion is a treatment which has been proven to be effective in ductus dependent congenital heart disease. However, PGE1 is very expensive, needed continuous infusion and its supply is difficult by every center. When its long term use is necessary, these problems become more important. The aim of this study was to show whether oral PGE1could keep the ductus open or not till the supply of intravenous PGE1. Method: Ten patients, who were admitted to newborn intensive care unit with the diagnosis of ductus dependent congenital heart disease and received oral PGE1 till the supply of intravenous PGE1, were evaluated. The PO2 with the arterial blood gas analysis and SO2 levels with pulse oxymeter at skin were recorded before and after the administration of oral and intravenous PGE1. Results: The mean oral PGE1 initiation age was 5.5 hours (0.5-25), and mean administration period was 28 hours (18-46). It was observed that the PO2 and SO2 levels of patients measured 2 hours after the initiation of oral PGE1 were significantly increased compared to the levels before initiation of PGE1. The improvement in PO2 and SO2 levels continued till the initiation of intravenous PGE1. It was also observed that the PO2 and SO2 levels of patients measured 2 hours after the initiation of intravenous PGE1 were slightly increased compared to levels before initiation of intravenous PGE1. Conclusion: Although intravenous PGE1 is more effective than oral PGE1 in short term usage, oral PGE1 is also sufficiently effective in keeping the dustus open. For this reason until the intravenous PGE1 is supplied oral PGE1 may be used as an alternative treatment choice. We think that in long term use oral PGE1, which is cheaper and easy to use, could be used instead of intravenous PGE1 without need of admission to hospital and opening intravenous line. However for this further studies are needed to confirm this assumption.