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Patent Ductus Arteriosus Essay

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Patent Ductus Arteriosus

By Jonas Wilson, Ing. Med.

Patent ductus arteriosus (PDA), one of the more common cardiac defects at birth, is the persistence of an opening between the pulmonary artery and the descending thoracic aorta. This opening is as a result of failure of the physiological fetus ductus arteriosus to close, which normally occurs soon after birth. This hole allows for oxygenated blood from the aorta to mix with oxygen-depleted blood from the pulmonary artery. As a consequence, significant strain is placed on the heart and pressure within the lungs’ arteries is dramatically increased.

Etiology and pathophysiology

Often, PDA has no clear-cut cause; however, it is believed that genetic and environmental factors may be involved. During fetal development, a connection between the two major arteries leaving the …show more content…

The placenta is a major source of fetal prostaglandins and its removal after birth allows for the lungs to expand and become metabolically active, where most prostaglandins are degraded. This, in combination with increased pulmonary oxygen tension, in healthy full-term infants, normally causes functional closure of the ductus arteriosus within 15 hours after birth.

Several studies have suggested that PDA occurs in premature babies due to the lungs being underdeveloped and poor metabolizers of prostaglandins. Other risk factors that may be associated with an infant having a PDA is a positive family history of cardiac defects and genetically linked conditions like Down syndrome. Maternal infection with German measles during pregnancy can cause damaging effects to the fetal heart and circulatory system and put the infant at greater risk of acquiring a PDA. Studies have also shown that children born at higher altitudes have an increased susceptibility of having a PDA.

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