Patent Ductus Arteriosus (PDA)

Why did you enter the military? What impact did this decision have upon your family? What military core values/traditions did you identify with most, and why? Did values/belief systems change between entering the military and during their time in service?

The incidence of PDA is approximately 0.02 to 0.04 percent in term infants and 20 to 60 percent in preterm neonates. Patent ductus arteriosus accounts for six to eleven percent of all congenital heart defects. PDA is found twice as often in females than in males (Shinde, Basantwani, & Tendolkar, 2016). The incidence of PDA is increased in children who are born prematurely, children with a history of perinatal asphyxia, and, possibly, children born at high altitude. Up to 30 percent low birth infants develop PDA (Kim, 2016).

In the foetal circulation, the primary role of the ductus arteriosus (DA) is to divert the ventricular output away from the lungs towards the placenta in utero by its connection between the pulmonary artery and the descending aorta. The patency of the ductus is mainly regulated by low oxygen tension present in the foetal lung and prostaglandin, which is known for its vasodilating effect in the placental circulation. Prostaglandin levels are usually high as a result of placental production and low clearance ability of the foetal lung (Gardner, Carter, Enzman Hines, Hernandez,2016).

It was around 7 o’ clock in the afternoon on a Tuesday afternoon when my 7 year old patient almost bled out in a hallway at Nicklaus Children’s Hospital. This little girl had come back from a cardiac catheterization at 12 pm on March 29, 2016. This patient had a history of Patent Ductus Arteriosus, a heart condition in which the ductus arteriosus vessel fails to close after birth compromising the blood circulation by mixing oxygenated blood with the deoxygenated one (Tetsuya, et al., 2015).

In the early 90s, my parents immigrated to the United States from Ivory Coast, West Africa. Growing up with little to nothing they came to the United States to seek opportunity for a better life for themselves and future family. When I was born it meant a lot to my parents, not only did they have a healthy child but they had a child born on U.S soil. This meant that I would receive and be granted opportunities that they never got a chance to receive.

Hello Heather, as you mentioned, a patent ductus arteriosus is normal at birth. A Patent Ductus Arteriosus (PDA) s a heart condition that is characterized by the persistence of a normal fetal connection between the aorta and the pulmonary artery which allows oxygen rich blood that should go to the body to recirculate through the lungs. All newborns are born with PDA because when a fetus is growing in the uterus, it is not necessary to circulate blood through the lungs as oxygen is provided by the placenta. A PDA allows the blood to bypass the lungs and proceed to the baby’s body. At birth placenta is removed and baby’s lungs must provide oxygen to his or her body. When the baby takes the first birth, the blood vessels in the lungs open up and

Patent Ductus Arteriosus is a common condition seen in preterm infants. PDA may cause congestive heart failure, respiratory distress, necrotizing enterocolitis, and renal impairment. Cyclooxygenase (COX) inhibitors and surgical interventions for ligation of PDA are widely used in management of this condition. In small infants, surgical closure can be difficult, therefore medical closure offers a great advantage.

Patent Ductus Arteriosus (PDA) is a common congenital heart defect which occurs in newborns and preemies. It is when abnormal blood flows between the two main arteries connected by a blood vessel to the heart called the ductus arteriosus: this vessel is part of the fetal blood circulation. Within a few days after birth, this vessel is supposed to close, but instead it remains open. Therefore, this allows the oxygen-rich and oxygen-poor blood to mix, which can cause a blood pressure increase in the lung arteries. Usually, it will shrink and go away, but some PDA stays open and will need to be treated with medications or surgery to shrink the PDA.

Growing up, my parents have been my inspiration. Back in 1999, my family made the tough decision to leave Algeria during the civil war. The country was in turmoil and my parents wanted to escape to the United States. My mother was fortunate enough to be picked for Visa’s for the entire family. I remember my mom holding me in her arms, hearing her heart beat fast, and listening to the small prayers she would whisper. She brought me a government building in the capital, Algiers. My mother had the idea that if she brought youngest child it would increase her chance in the Visa lottery draw. At the time, the Algerian government was giving out a handful of visas to Algerian citizens. The room was silent while people were waiting for their family

I remember people always telling me that in the military you move a lot and change houses often. They said that you would move houses so often that each house you moved into would just become another house and would not have as much significant meaning to it but, they were definitely wrong. I remember them saying that the military life was not for everyone and it took a special person to be able to be in it. You had to be prepared to move a lot which meant new schools and different houses. I guess you could say I was made for it. I loved the constant changing of the house and each house we moved into has its own special meaning to it and the memories that were made in each in cling to.

There are several ways to overcome aortic valve stenosis. The first method being a minimally invasive procedure, the insertion of a transcatheter aortic valve replacement where the new tissue valve is inflated over the calcified one. The second method is open heart surgery where the calcified valve is completely replaced with a tissue valve or with a metal mechanical valve. The mechanical valve, though very effective at restoring normal flow and withstanding the test of time, can still use improvement. The St. Jude Regent mechanical valve, despite advantages over other mechanical valves, still has its flaws. Simple improvements such as covering the valve with artificial tissue using nanospring biomaterial adhesive can remove problems

The article only followed the patient up to 15 days post-operative when the patient was discharged from the hospital. I am curious how the patient recovered and if there were any other complications that developed later. Did the patient require anticoagulants or did they experience any thrombus issues from the repair and how well did the repair hold? I wish the article had gone into more details about the long-term recovery of the patient and the success of the technique.

My parents from Cambodia, grew up during the communist era, ran by Pol Pot, the dictator. My dad would tell me stories of how at the age of fourteen, he would have to herd cows and struggle to find food. During the fall of the communist era, my dad got separated from his family. He fled to Vietnam, got on a small boat to travel to Thailand and was put into a refugee camp. At the refugee camp, my dad was reunited with his older sister and younger brother. The American Embassy decided to send my dad and his siblings to the United States. My dad came to America with only the clothes on his back. He tells me that the lowest point in his life was when he accepted 10 dollars from a man to buy shoes. From that moment on, my dad wanted to work hard so that he would never have to feel hunger and be poor.

The military is a great way to have your life impacted exponentially. As a military spouse I had the opportunity to work with children in the child development center. I have always enjoyed working with children and knew I wanted my career choice to be centered around that fact. Being part of the military family I was able to not only work each day with children and their families, but I also got to become friends with many people from all over our great United States. I feel so blessed and honored to have had those opportunities. It has been amazing to learn what so many families endure to ensure that freedom reigns. There are times when families are separated for months on end or when you have to move from your current base to another and

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.