Bronchopulmonary dysplasia associated pulmonary hypertension: Making the best use of bedside echocardiography

Pulmonary hypertension (PH) complicating bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) is known though echocardiographic (ECHO) criteria and clinical relevance is unclear. An audit of infants ≤ 28 weeks gestational age (GA) and with ‘severe’ BPD was carried out for the period January 2014 to May 2015. Six objective ECHO markers were decided a priori. During the period, 56 infants with GA and birthweight 26 ± 1.4 weeks and 796 ± 190 g had ‘severe’ BPD. Twenty (35%) infants had no echocardiogram performed after 34 weeks corrected GA; the remaining 36 infants had an echocardiogram at 36.7 ± 2 weeks GA.
Source: Progress in Pediatric Cardiology - Category: Cardiology Authors: Source Type: research