In every prenatal baby, there is an intermediate vessel between the two large arteries that come out of the heart. In the first 3 days after birth, this vessel closes on its own. PDA is when this vessel does not close and remains open after birth. The rate of patency is higher in premature babies born prematurely. However, in premature babies, most of these can be closed with medication or spontaneously in a few months.
How to Diagnose Patent Ductus Arteriosus (PDA)?
In babies born on the day of birth, if the vessel is not closed on time, then spontaneous closure is possible. it is very sparse. In such patients, some of the clean blood that needs to go to the body through the open vein goes to the lungs. While this event causes an increase in pressure in the pulmonary arteries, on the other hand, the increased blood flow causes the heart to work harder and get more tired.
There are usually no symptoms in children with small vessel diameters. Diagnosis is made by incidentally hearing a murmur.
If the vessel diameter is large, rapid breathing in infancy, excessive sweating, fatigue, and inability to gain sufficient weight draw attention, especially while breastfeeding. Diagnosis is made by hearing a murmur during the examination and detecting signs of heart failure.
Pneumonia and bronchitis are also common in these patients. Since in our country, children are usually taken to the doctor only when they are sick, other findings and a murmur are difficult to notice in a seriously ill and crying baby. Although some of these patients partially improve with lung infection treatments, they become sick again and again and the definitive diagnosis may therefore be delayed. Definitive diagnosis is made by examination and echocardiography performed by a pediatric cardiologist.
How is Patent Ductus Arteriosus (PDA) Treated?
In some patients, spontaneous closure of PDA can be achieved with medication in premature babies. In cases of PDA that do not close spontaneously, the first option in the treatment is to enter the inguinal veins through a catheter and close the opening with tools called “coils” or “plugs”.
What Should Be Done Forward in Patients?
Defects that are not treated or that are closed with the catheter method require preventive treatment against endocarditis (inflammation of the inner layer of the heart) before some procedures such as circumcision, tooth extraction, tooth filling, surgery during the first 6 months after the procedure. They must be under control.
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