Pulmonary Hypertension of the Newborn PPHN
What Is Persistent Pulmonary Hypertension of the Newborn?
In the womb, the pathway of your baby’s blood circulation is different than it is after birth.
In the uterus, a baby’s circulation bypasses the lungs. The lungs are not needed to exchange oxygen because the placenta (the organ that nourishes and protects your developing baby) supplies the baby with oxygen through the umbilical cord. The pulmonary artery – which, after birth, will carry blood from the heart to the lungs – instead sends blood directly back to the heart through a fetal blood vessel called the ductus arteriosus.
What Causes PPHN?
PPHN has been linked as a serious Prozac side effect and is a known birth defect related to taking Prozac during pregnancy. The results of a study have shown that babies born to mothers who took Prozac were more likely to develop Persistent Pulmonary Hypertension of the Newborn (PPHN), than babies born to mothers who did not take Prozac during pregnancy. PPHN is failure of the normal circulatory transition that occurs after birth. It is a syndrome characterized by marked pulmonary hypertension that causes hypoxemia and right-to-left extrapulmonary shunting of blood. With inadequate pulmonary perfusion, neonates develop refractory hypoxemia, respiratory distress, and acidosis.
