Neonatal Care:

Nitric Oxide Saving Lives of Newborn Babies

A nitric oxide treatment available at Valley Baptist Medical Center-Harlingen is helping to save the lives of newborn babies with pulmonary hypertension – a condition which prevents some babies from getting adequate oxygen in their blood.

Previously, Valley newborns who developed the condition had to be sent to Corpus Christi or San Antonio. Having the nitric oxide treatment available in the Valley means babies don’t have to undergo the risk of being transferred and keeps the baby close to home -- and close to his or her parents.

“This is a big step forward which raises the standard of care available in the Valley,” said Rodolfo Saca, M.D., Neonatologist and Medical Director of VBMC-Harlingen’s Newborn Intensive Care Unit.

Nitric oxide is a special gas that physicians use to open, or dilate, the blood vessels. (Nitric oxide shouldn’t be confused with nitrous, or the “laughing gas” which is used as an anesthetic in dental treatment; that is a completely different gas.)

By opening the blood vessels, the treatment allows more blood to flow to the lungs and pick up oxygen. Oxygen is then carried by the red blood cells to all parts of the body. Without adequate oxygen, the blood can “turn blue,” a potentially-fatal condition.

One Valley mother whose baby boy required the treatment said she is very grateful that the nitric oxide treatment is now available in the Valley. “It would have been very hard for me to go to Corpus Christi,” the mother said. “Financially, it’s a lot better here. I just got out of the hospital myself, and here I can see him (the baby) every day. We have our family support (system) here. And the doctors have been amazing.”

Dr. Saca said that baby and other babies who have received the treatment at Valley Baptist have been doing very well. The treatment is used for full-term babies and not for premature babies.

Neonatologists such as Dr. Saca are physicians who are specially trained to care for newborn children. In addition to Dr. Saca, board-certified neonatologists at VBMC-Harlingen include Dr. Evelyn Lohla and Dr. Cheng-Hurd Liu. They are assisted by a team of neonatal nurse practitioners; neonatology nurses; Respiratory Therapist Eddie Uribe, RRT, and other VBMC Respiratory Therapists.

Valley Baptist’s Newborn Intensive Care Unit (NBICU) has been caring for some of the smallest patients in the Valley for more than 30 years. The NBICU is an important component of Valley Baptist Women & Children’s Services, which also includes the Valley’s first Children’s Center, the Mother-Baby maternity unit, the Newborn Nursery, Labor & Delivery, and Obstetrics/Gynecology.

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