Abstract
The placenta is a well known source of many prostaglandins (PG) including E1, E2, and 6-Keto F1α. PGE1 has been used to maintain patency in the ductus arteriousus in infants with ductal dependent congenital cyanotic heart disease. Various plasma prostaglandin levels have been measured at birth in term as well as preterm infants but none of these reports discussed their relationship to any future development of a hemodynamically significant patent ductus arteriousus (PDA). We measured venous umbilical cord plasma PGE1, PGE2, and PG 6-Keto F1α levels by radioimmunoassay to determine if any of these might serve as predictors of future ductal patency. All three of these PG's have been implicated in maintaining or causing ductal patency. Levels were measured at birth in 36 infants weighing less than 1750 grams and having a gestational age of under 35 weeks. Thirteen infants (36%) were subsequently diagnosed by either two dimensional echocardiography or physical parameters (or both) as having a PDA. While there tended to be marked elevations in PG 6-Keto F1α levels in some infants prior to diagnosis, these as well as other PG levels were not found to statistically correlate with ductal patency (p=.05 for PGF1α). These findings do not support the hypothesis that umbilical cord PGE1, PGE2, or PG 6-Keto F1α levels may serve as predictors of future ductal patency. Instead, patency may be determined by primarily local or intracellular factors which may or may not be oxygen dependent.
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Ginsberg, H., Devoe, W. PREDICTIVE VALUE OF UMBILICAL CORD PLASMA PROSTAGLANDINS E1, E2, AND 6–KETO Flα ON FUTURE PATENCY OF THE DUCTUS ARTERIOSUS. Pediatr Res 21 (Suppl 4), 213 (1987). https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-198704010-00284
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-198704010-00284