This may include adverts from us and 3rd parties based on our understanding. The results from a new study show that prostacyclin, which is regularly used in hospitals, could steer critically ill patients to safety. It is usually used to treat high blood pressure in the lungs, but a research team led by Professor P r Johansson from the Department of Clinical Immunology in Rigshospitalet in Denmark examined whether it could help patients by reducing damage to the endothelial cells that line the interior of all blood vessels.
The team took 80 patients into intensive-care departments in Denmark for the trial. Half of them received the medicine, and the other half was the control group that received normal saline. Patients who had three days of treatment with prostacyclin showed that they had less damage to their vital organs when they were in the intensive-care department. Mortality was halved from 44 percent for the control group to 22 percent for those who were given prostacyclin. The researchers have stressed that the results are not overly significant because of the small size of the group used in the study. Prof Johansson said that patients who had received prostacyclin generally had better organ function and better chances of survival.
There are still many COVID 19 patients at intensive care departments around the world, and we are very pleased that there is a better treatment option. Prostacyclin has been used in hospitals since the 1980s to treat high blood pressure in the pulmonary system. Prof Johansson had shown earlier that the drug might have a positive effect on endothelial cells in critically ill patients treated in intensive care departments, as shown in low doses. Prof Johansson said: "We've discovered that damage to the endothelial cells in the body's smallest blood vessels, the capillaries, can cause a very serious condition for the patient." READ MORE: Russia threatens millions as it runs rampant in Irish waters.