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Article
February 1972

Progressive Pulmonary Hypertension in Newborn Infants: A Report of Two Cases With No Identifiable Respiratory or Cardiac Disease

Author Affiliations

London; Portland, Ore
From the departments of pediatrics, University of Oregon Medical School, Portland (Dr. Lees) and the Brompton Hospital, London (Drs. Burnell and Joseph). Dr. Burnell is now with the University of Adelaide, Adelaide Children's Hospital, North Adelaide, South Australia.

Am J Dis Child. 1972;123(2):167-170. doi:10.1001/archpedi.1972.02110080145022
Abstract

Progressive pulmonary hypertension associated with cyanosis was encountered in two infants. In the first infant, at 45 days of age, pulmonary arterial pressure became normal with oxygen breathing and cyanosis was abolished. Later, cyanosis became increasingly unresponsive to oxygen and death occurred at 70 days of age. The second infant maintained pulmonary arterial hypertension while breathing oxygen; however, a right-to-left ductal shunt was reversed during oxygen breathing apparently due to an increase in systemic blood pressure and a favorable alteration in the systemic: pulmonary vascular resistance ratio. This infant also showed progressive cyanosis unresponsive to oxygen, and died at the age of 62 days. The etiology could not be established before or after death in either infant. The hemodynamic and autopsy findings suggested the persistence of some of the features of the fetal pulmonary physiology.

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