Nitric Oxide Does Not Improve Babies’ Recovery after Heart Surgery

Congenital heart disease affects about one in a hundred live-born children. (Kinderspital Zürich) - Infants undergoing heart surgery are connected to a heart-lung machine and given nitric oxide as an anti-inflammatory. Researchers from the Universities of Zurich and Queensland have now conducted the world's largest study of its kind, showing that using nitric oxide does not improve children's recovery after surgery. Congenital heart disease affects about one in a hundred live-born children. In the US alone, about 40,000 children are born with congenital heart disease every year. About half of these patients require heart surgery during the first years of life. This type of surgery involves performing a cardiopulmonary bypass, or artificial heart-lung machine, that is needed to allow surgeons to operate on the heart.