http://www.fpnotebook.com/

Prostaglandin E1

Physiology
1. Onset of effect seen in <30 minutes for cyanotic lesion
2. Acyanotic lesions may take longer to see effect
Indications
1. Maintain patency or reopen ductus arteriosus in case of
  1. Cyanotic Congenital Heart Disease
    1. Transposition of the Great Vessels
    2. Tricuspid atresia
  2. Aortic Coarctation
Preparation of infusion
1. Preparation
  1. Start with "x" mg of Prostaglandin E1
    1. Where "x" = 0.3 x WeightKg
  2. Add enough D5W or NS to Prostaglandin for 50 ml total
2. At this dilution
  1. Infusion rate of 0.5 ml/min provides 0.05 ug/kg
Dose
1. Start: Infusion 0.05 - 0.10 ug/kg/min
2. Cut rate in half until 0.025 ug/kg/min
Precautions
1. Side effects are common and potentially lethal
  1. Flushing
  2. peripheral edema
  3. Hypotension
  4. Apnea
  5. Hyperpyrexia
  6. Jitteriness
  7. Diarrhea
  8. Hypoglycemia
  9. Hypocalcemia
  10. Renal Failure
  11. Rhythm disturbance
  12. Coagulopathies
2. Be prepared to intubate before infusing prostaglandin
3. Keep refrigerated

Navigation Tree

Please see the Terms and Conditions. Please also see the privacy statement regarding advertising on this page. Although access to this page is not restricted, the information found here is intended for use by medical providers. Patients should address specific medical concerns with their physicians.

This page was written by Scott Moses, MD. This page was last revised before 5/10/08, prior to consistent tracking of revision date. This page was last published on 6/1/2008. Please send comments and questions to the editor. Contact information may be found on the page About the Family Practice Notebook. These pages are best viewed with Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0.