BHUBANESWAR: Apollo Hospitals, Bhubaneswar has introduced the advanced Inhaled Nitric Oxide System to treat serious neonatal complications as well as older children in specific conditions.
Nitric oxide is used to treat infants with severe breathing problems. It is typically administered in neonatal intensive care unit using a device that delivers the drug in constant concentrations. It acts as a pulmonary vasodilator, widening the opening of blood vessels in lungs to ease breathing.
Use of this therapy has many advantages. It has proven to shorten ventilator support requirement, thereby reducing progression to chronic lung disease, improving long-term lung health, brain development and functions. While its role is primarily in newborns, it can also be used in pediatric patients for life threatening conditions like acute respiratory distress syndrome, consultant pediatrics and neonatalogy Dr TB Sahoo said.
The Department of Pediatrics and Neonatology of Apollo Hospitals, Bhubaneswar is the only unit in the State to have integrated the therapy.
The Department of Pediatrics and Neonatology has 10 neonatal and four pediatric intensive care beds along with six ventilators. It is set to acquire a high-frequency ventilator to advance its capacity for carrying out difficult ventilation. Acquisition of a whole body cooling machine for treatment of delayed cry at birth and head trauma cases is also in the pipeline, Dr Sahoo said.