Article Text
Statistics from Altmetric.com
Patency of the arterial duct (PDA) in preterm infants is associated with myocardial dysfunction, risk of chronic lung disease (CLD), pulmonary haemorrhage,1 intraventricular haemorrhage (IVH), necrotising enterocolitis (NEC), renal insufficiency and retinopathy of prematurity (ROP),2 and non-steroidal therapy has significant risks.3 Surgical ligation is considered in those with contraindications or who fail to respond to medical treatment. Some do well and are rapidly extubated, but mortality after ligation is 20% with an incidence of CLD of 77%, IVH 33%, NEC 26% and ROP 28%.2 4
One hundred and seventy-three consecutive …
Footnotes
Competing interests None.
Provenance and Peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.
Ethics approval The study was approved as a service evaluation by our NHS trust.