Frequency of pulmonary hypertension in neonates with diaphragmatic hernia and its early prognosis

Abstract

Considering that pulmonary hypertension is a vital disorder in patients with a congenital diaphragmatic hernia, in this study, we decided to investigate the status of pulmonary hypertension in these patients and its effect on the prognosis of the patients to have a clearer view of the treatment and patients management. Materials and Methods: In this study, 31 congenital hernia patients referred to Tabriz Children's Hospital for 27 months, from January 2019 to the end of 2022, were selected. The required information was extracted from the patient's files. Then, all patients underwent echocardiography by a pediatric heart specialist. The investigated index in echocardiography is pulmonary artery pressure. These patients underwent weekly control echocardiography during hospitalization. Finally, the obtained data were statistically analyzed by SPSS software. Results: In this study, out of 31 patients with a diaphragmatic hernia, 15 (48.4%) had pulmonary artery hypertension. All patients with PH were found to have normal pulmonary blood pressure before discharge. The overall survival rate of patients was 87%, and 27 patients were finally discharged from the hospital. The average length of stay in the NICU was 22.8 days, and the average length in the hospital was 25.4 days. Four patients (13%) eventually died. The mortality rate was significantly higher in patients who still had pulmonary hypertension after the second week than in patients whose hypertension had improved (p=0.002).