Related Experiment Video
Updated: Feb 25, 2026
Hemodynamic Precision in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit using Targeted Neonatal Echocardiography
Published on: January 27, 2023
Tale of Two Patent Ductus Arteriosus Severity Scores: Similarities and Differences
Daniel Fink1, Afif El-Khuffash2,3, Patrick J McNamara4,5
1Department of Pediatric Cardiology, Shaare Zedek Medical Center, Jerusalem, Israel.
Introduction:
Several echocardiographic scoring systems have been developed to assess the severity of patent ductus arteriosus (PDA) shunting in preterm infants.
Objective:
The objective of this study was to compare the ability of two different scoring systems to evaluate the hemodynamic significance of the PDA and to predict long-term PDA-associated morbidities.
Subjects:
El-Khuffash cohort (previously described) was derived from a multicenter, prospective, observational study conducted in tertiary neonatal intensive care units in Ireland, Canada, and Australia.
Results:
A total of 141 infants with a mean gestational age of 26 ± 1.4 weeks and a mean birth weight of 952 ± 235 g were evaluated on day 2 of life. The two scores were well correlated with each other and both scores positively predicted chronic lung disease/death in this population.
Conclusion:
There appears to be an overall stepwise progression in the incidence of poor outcome parameters from "closed" to "borderline" to "hemodynamically significant" PDA. Both the El-Khuffash and Shaare Zedek scores are predictive of PDA-associated morbidities.
