The Silent Patent Ductus Arteriosus
1 Divisions of Pediatric Cardiology and Neonatology, Department of Pediatrics, University of California, San Diego School of Medicine, San Diego, CA 92103
To the Editor.
We read with interest the article by Ellison et al1 on evaluation of preterm infants for patent ductus arteriosus. While commending the study for its elaborate design, we believe that in the modern neonatal intensive care unit there is a need for a less cumbersome and more practical approach to this common problem.
The criteria for detecting patent ductus arteriosus (PDA) in the presence of a continuous or systolic murmur presented in this paper are well founded, and the figures on the incidence of PDA are in agreement with some studies that have primarily relied on the murmur as the key feature.2,3




