Zeitschrift für Neonatalbiologie

Abstrakt

Controversies in the treatment of patent ductus arteriosus in premature infants

Neha Chaudhary, Panayot Filipov, Alok Bhutada and Shantanu Rastogi

Forty to 60 percent of preterm infants have patent ductus arteriosus (PDA), with the incidence inversely proportional to gestational age. Treatment of PDA in extreme prematurity and extremely low birth weight is controversial, particularly since recent literature shows no significant benefit in long-term outcomes in treated infants compared with untreated ones. Furthermore, mortality and morbidity in preterm infants may not be entirely attributable to PDA as previously thought. Therefore, there is disagreement about which preterm infants benefit from treatment, when they should be treated, and which treatment methods should be used. We reviewed the current literature to highlight the controversies in answering these questions.