A paper has now been published in BMC Pediatrics. Link to the abstract can be found below.
Lead investigator
Dr Lleona Lee
Queen's Medical Centre - Nottingham
Nottingham University Hospitals
Derby Road
Nottingham NG7 2UH
Email: lleona.lee@nuh.nhs.uk
About the study
Overview
This UK study aims to describe the incidence of surgical ligation of the patent ductus arteriosus (PDA) in premature babies born at less than 37 weeks gestation.
The ductus arteriosus is a normal connection between the pulmonary artery and the aorta in the fetus which usually closes after birth. In premature babies the ductus arteriosus can remain open and is then called a PDA.
The abnormal flow of blood through the PDA causes haemodynamic effects including diastolic steal from the systemic circulation and increased pulmonary blood flow. It has been associated with chronic lung disease, necrotising enterocolitis, retinopathy of prematurity and intraventricular haemorrhage. It can also cause symptoms of cardiac failure and poor growth.
Because of these haemodynamic effects and clinical associations, closure of the PDA may be clinically indicated.
First line treatment is usually with medical treatment with non-steroidal antiinflammatory drugs such as ibuprofen or indomethacin. If medical treatment is contraindicated or not successful, a small minority of premature babies are referred for surgical ligation of their PDA.
Those who undergo surgical ligation are likely to be a sicker cohort of babies, with symptoms judged to be related to their PDA, who have not responded to medical treatment or are too sick to have medical treatment. They are therefore an important group to study.
You can download the protocol card, including references, below.
Case definition
Any baby born at less than 37 completed weeks of gestation, with no other structural cardiac abnormality, who, during the past month, has undergone surgical ligation of a patent ductus arteriosus before first discharge to home. Please note that a patent foramen ovale is not considered a structural cardiac abnormality.
Published Papers
- A Warnock, L Szatkowski, A Lakshmanan, L Lee and W Kelsall. Surgical management of patent ductus arteriosus in pre-term infants - a british paediatric surveillance study. BMC Pediatrics. 2021.
Duration
September 2012 to September 2013 (13 months of surveillance).
Funding
This study is funded through the Sir Peter Tizard Bursary.
Approval
This study has been approved by NRES Committee - East Midlands – Derby (REC reference 12/EM/0149) and has been granted Section 251 NIGB permission under reference: ECC 3-02(FT6)/2012.