overview

The incidence of PDA is about 11% in infants with a gestational age of 30 weeks or more, increasing to 65% in infants born at less than 30 weeks. Persistent PDA can result in congestive heart failure, pulmonary edema, necrotizing enterocolitis, and chronic lung disease.

Although it is one of the most common congenital cardiac defects in neonates, a diversity of opinion and practice patterns still exists with respect to its diagnosis and treatment. Current approaches include conservative medical management, pharmacological therapy and surgical ligation. Clinicians still voice questions about each of these options, including appropriate patient selection, risks and benefits, feeding, neurologic implications, and dosing/timing issues for the pharmacologic options. The varied questions and practice patterns of clinicians point to the compelling need for continuing education on this condition.

In this on-demand webcast, three leading neonatologists will present case studies to review key issues involved with early PDA diagnosis and management; discuss the benefits and risks of surgical and medical therapies; describe the role of prostaglandin inhibitors; compare pharmacological therapies; and discuss clinical considerations including dosing and time to feeding.

Participants will have the opportunity to participate in the educational process, as interactive questions are posed to you and your answers are discussed by our panel.