A Novel Echocardiographic Marker (PDAM) Incorporating the Diameter of the Patent Foramen Ovale to Assess Hemodynamically Significant Patent Ductus Arteriosus

This report proposes a new composite marker to predict a hemodynamically significant PDA, termed the PDA marker (PDAM) score, which incorporates the diameter of the patent foramen ovale (PFO) in addition to the ratio of the diameter of the left atrium to the diameter of the root of the aorta (LA/Ao) and ratio of the size of the patent ductus arteriosus to the left pulmonary artery (PDA/LPA) diameter. PDA was suspected in 191 infants between 2009 and 2013. Analysis of the data indicated that there was no significant difference between the accuracy of the PDA diameter and the PDAM score as markers of either a hemodynamically significant PDA or a very hemodynamically significant PDA that needed ligation. These data did show that the PDAM score provided slightly higher sensitivity (93.3%) and specificity (75.6%) than the PDA diameter to identify a PDA that needed ligation at the specified cutoff level of PDAM = 5.1. Consequently, clinicians may be more confident using the PDAM score, rather than the PDA diameter alone, when selecting PDA cases for surgical intervention.
Source: Journal of Diagnostic Medical Sonography - Category: Radiology Authors: Tags: Original Articles Source Type: research