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Echocardiographic prediction of patent ductus arteriosus in need of therapeutic intervention
Author(s) -
Harling S,
HansenPupp I,
Baigi A,
Pesonen E
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
acta paediatrica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.772
H-Index - 115
eISSN - 1651-2227
pISSN - 0803-5253
DOI - 10.1111/j.1651-2227.2010.02027.x
Subject(s) - medicine , ductus arteriosus , intervention (counseling) , cardiology , intensive care medicine , psychiatry
Aim: To evaluate the efficacy of various echocardiographic markers in predicting a patent ductus arteriosus (PDA) in need of treatment. Methods: Forty‐five preterm infants with a mean (SD) gestational age of 27.7 (1.9) weeks underwent echocardiography at a postnatal age of 24 ± 6 and 72 ± 6 h. Four echocardiographic markers were studied: ductus diameter, ductal flow Doppler curves, the left atrial to aortic root (LA/Ao) ratio and Doppler pixels representing ductal shunting. Results: Twenty‐eight infants had a PDA with a detectable left‐to‐right shunt. Of these, 12 (43%) were treated for a shunt through the PDA. Ductal diameter was the most accurate echocardiographic marker when it came to predicting a significant shunt, with a sensitivity of 89%, a specificity of 70%, a positive likelihood ratio of 2.97 and a negative likelihood ratio of 0.16 at the age of 72 h. The efficacy of the method at 72 h of age was 84%. The corresponding efficacy of the pulsatile Doppler curve was 72%, percentage of green colour pixels 63% and the LA/Ao ratio 53%. Conclusion: Ductus diameter appears to be the most important variable in determining the need for therapeutic intervention for PDA in preterm infants.