Successful Fibrinolytic Treatment of Arterial Thrombosis and Hypertension in a Cocaine-Exposed Neonate

CASE REPORT The patient was a 2800-g black girl delivered by primary cesarean section because of fetal distress and meconium aspiration after 42 weeks' gestation. Her mother's pregnancy had been complicated by cocaine use. The baby's Apgar score was 5 at 1 minute and 7 at 5 minutes. Maternal and neonatal urine toxicology screens were positive for cocaine, and the infant was treated with phenobarbital because of withdrawal symptoms. She was transferred to Children's Hospital and Health Center for treatment of CO2 retention and probable meconium aspiration syndrome. She was mechanically ventilated, and an umbilical artery catheter was inserted. The infant improved and was extubated after 4 days; the umbilical catheter was removed on day 8 of life. She did well until 11 days of life when she became tachypneic and acidotic with a systemic blood pressure of 130/106 mm Hg.