Vasopressin and Inhaled Prostacyclin in Pediatric Pulmonary Hypertension
Status:
Terminated
Trial end date:
2016-09-01
Target enrollment:
Participant gender:
Summary
To diagnose pulmonary hypertension, children have a cardiac catheterization to check the
blood pressure in their lungs. Children with pulmonary hypertension have high blood pressure
in their lungs. The right ventricle of the heart has to do more work to pump against this
higher pressure. The investigators do not know the best medicine(s) to help children with
pulmonary hypertension when their right ventricles fail. The purpose of the study is to look
at the effects of two different medicines on the blood pressure in the lungs of a child with
pulmonary hypertension. The investigators hope to then be able to choose the best medicine
for children with pulmonary hypertension and right ventricular failure.
The first medicine is called vasopressin. It is a hormone that your body makes on its own.
The investigators will be giving it through an intravenous infusion. The investigators think
that vasopressin works differently in different parts of your body. The investigators are
looking to see the different effects that vasopressin has in the lungs compared to the rest
of the body.
The second medicine is called prostacyclin and is something that your body also makes by
itself. Prostacyclin, given via an intravenous infusion, is a treatment for pulmonary
hypertension as it decreases pressure in the blood vessels. In the catheterization
laboratory, patients breathe in this medicine to measure specific changes in the blood
pressure in their lungs.