Publication date: Aug 01, 2024

Inhaled nitric oxide (iNO) showed to improve oxygenation at low doses by reducing intrapulmonary shunt and to display antiviral properties at high doses. To assess the safety and potential benefits, we designed an exploratory clinical trial comparing low-dose with intermittent high-dose iNO to only intermittent high-dose iNO in hypoxemic COVID-19 patients. In this single-center interventional non-inferiority randomized trial (ClinicalTrials. gov, NCT04476992), twenty oxygen-dependent COVID-19 patients were randomly assigned to the high-dose (200 ppm for 30 min) + continuous low-dose (20 ppm) iNO group (iNO) or the high-dose iNO group (iNO). Methemoglobinemia (MetHb) assessed 48 h after iNO initiation was the primary endpoint. Reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction for SARS-CoV-2, inflammatory markers during hospitalization, and heart ultrasounds during the iNO treatments were evaluated. MetHb difference between iNO groups remained within the non-inferiority limit of 3 %, indicating comparable treatments despite being statistically different (p-value

Semantics

Original Article