Has anyone here used Viagra for PPHN?

[BittyBabyGrower]

One of our chronic kids went over to the cardiac hospital because she was getting into more trouble and we thought her VSD was coming into play, but we shipped her on nitric as her PPHN was over the top! The stopped the nitric, cathed her, the VSD isn't playing any part and it is all PPHN. They started her on Viagra...we don't use it at our place and was wondering what the outcomes are with it. I hope this all goes well....she is going to be one year old in a week and had gone home and did pretty well, got pneumonia and then was up in PICU for a while. I feels so bad for her and her family

[tigerrose]

Well just think about how therapeutic it is to use Viagra for babies when they have circulatory probs...it is a vasodilator! Arkansas Children's Hospital uses it.

[perfectbluebuildings, BSN, RN]

I've taken care of at least 2 babies who were ex-NICU babies on our floor, on po Viagra. One has a lot of cardiac issues, was on ECMO at birth and a lot of other things and is 02 dependent but she's 2 and a half years old and doing well at this point! Certainly has her own personality and is very active, despite all that's going on with her.

[BittyBabyGrower, MSN, RN]

Thanks for the replys ...she is doing much better now :) On NC and eating like a horse :)

[pooperscooperrn0624]

I have used it on just one baby. We gave it PO so I don't know what other routes there are. We teased our male staff that seemed to hang around us more while the baby was on on it. We had lots of fun with that one.

[troutfishinEMT]

My mom has been a NICU nurse since not long after I was out of diapers (now a NNP), currently works at a level 4 (or 3 - forget which level her state goes to - only NICU in the state with ECMO, anyways) and she says they are giving neonates with pphn (mostly from meconium aspiration in already underdeveloped little lungs) sildenafil and NO before they put them on ECMO.

She also says that they use Viagra to pop the diaper off a little boy baby if you're having trouble changing a kid, but that's just explains where I get my goobery sense of humor.