Introduction: Pulmonary hypertension has been shown to increase perioperative morbidity and mortality in cardiac surgery necessitating the use of selective pulmonary vasodilators. Inhaled Iloprost, a prostacyclin PGI2 analogue, was evaluated for its systemic and hemodynamic effects.

Methods: We prospectively studied 10 patients with elevated mPAP. Iloprost (40 g) was administered via ultrasonic nebulization with Servo-I ventilators postoperatively. MPAP, cardiac index (C.I), and wedge pressures (PAOP) were measured with a pulmonary artery catheter. Pulmonary and systemic vascular resistance (PVR SVR) was calculated.

Results: Iloprost reduced PVR by 220.72 dynes/sec x cm-5 with sample correlation of 0.024 and mPAP by 18 mmHg with 0.058 correlation, but did not affect SVR.

C.I improvement had correlation of 0.001

Conclusion: Iloprost resulted in statistically significant reductions in mPAP and PVR accompanied by improvement in C.I. Iloprost could be considered as an alternative to Nitric Oxide.