Fig 1.
Combined clinical and ultrasound grading (G) at 72 hours of life.
G0 (white boxes): infants without PDA (E0) whatever the clinical grading. G1 (pink boxes): infants with PDA (E1) whatever the clinical grading or asymptomatic infants (C1) with PDA. G2 (gray boxes): symptomatic infants (C2-C4) with PDA (E2) or infants with hsPDA (E3-E4) and mild symptoms (C2). G3 (red boxes): infants with hsPDA (E3-E4) and moderate-to-severe clinical conditions (C3-C4).
Table 1.
Echocardiographic grading of PDA.
The US grading of PDA involves assessing its severity using the following criteria: PDA diameter, flow characteristics, and indexes of pulmonary overcirculation and/or systemic hypoperfusion.
Table 2.
Grading of the severity of clinical conditions.
Fig 2.
Flow diagram of the study.
Table 3.
Demographics and clinical findings of the study population according to gestational age: < 26 weeks’ gestation vs ≥ 26 weeks’ gestation.
Fig 3.
Combined clinical and US severity score (ranging from G1 to G3) among 61 early-treated infants.
The PDA US severity score is also reported for each group. VLBW, very low birth weight.
Fig 4.
Flow diagram of patients treated for PDA closure.
A flow diagram illustrating infants treated for PDA closure, including both early and/or late medical and/or surgical interventions, is presented. Early PDA treatment: any treatment in the first seven postnatal days. Late PDA treatment: any treatment after the first seven postnatal days.
Table 4.
Correlation of adverse neonatal outcomes and ultrasound PDA grading (E0 to E4) after correction for gestational age.