Inhaled Prostacyclin for Adult Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS) and Pulmonary Hypertension
Status:
Completed
Trial end date:
2009-07-01
Target enrollment:
Participant gender:
Summary
Summary of the proposed research:
The intravenous application of prostacyclin (PGE1) or its stable analogue, iloprost, has been
used to cause a decrease not only of the pulmonary but also of the systemic vascular tone.
Aerosolized prostacyclin, on the other hand, can result in a selective pulmonary
vasodilatation without affecting the systemic blood pressure as shown in preliminary
studies/case reports. No large trials exist for this type of use of the drug so far.
Furthermore, aerosolized PGI2 can improve gas exchange and pulmonary shunt in clinical
settings of impaired ventilation/perfusion ratio as it occurs in adult respiratory distress
syndrome (ARDS) due to the redistribution of pulmonary blood flow from non-ventilated to
ventilated, aerosol accessible lung regions. Therefore, the investigators propose to carry
out a prospective, double blinded, randomized trial to show that the nebulized iloprost
decreases pulmonary hypertension selectively and improves oxygenation in ARDS.