New nonsurgical restore of the most typical coronary heart defect present in extraordinarily untimely newborns proven to be efficient
A new minimally invasive technique for repairing the most common cardiac birth defect in extremely premature newborns can be performed safely with a high success rate in babies as small as 755 grams -- about 1.6 pounds -- only a few days after birth. The study, published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology: Cardiovascular Interventions , details the results of a catheter-based approach to repairing patent ductus arteriosus (PDA), commonly referred to as "a hole in the heart." "If left untreated, PDA can cause heart failure and lifelong complications," said Evan M. Zahn, MD, an expert in congenital heart disease and director of the Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute's Guerin Family Congenital Heart Program. "Current treatment options are not optimal and are fraught with complications." Before birth, a fetus' blood does not need to go to its lungs to get oxygenated because the mother's own blood circulation supplies oxygen...