Pulmonary function in preterm infants following treatment with intravenous indomethacin
A. N. Krauss, N. Fatica, B. S. Lewis, R. Cooper, H. T. Thaler, C. Cirrincione, J. O'Loughlin, A. Levin, M. A. Engle and P. A. Auld
Perinatology Center, Cornell University Medical College, New York, NY.
Pulmonary function tests, including measurements of arterial blood gas
levels, total pulmonary compliance, and arterial-alveolar oxygen ratios,
were performed in 38 ventilator-dependent preterm infants with respiratory
distress syndrome who weighed less than 1500 g at birth. Twenty-seven had a
physiologically significant patent ductus arteriosus (PDA). Twelve were
assigned at random to receive three doses of intravenous indomethacin, 0.2
mg/kg per dose, on the fourth day of life. This treatment resulted in
ductal closure in seven infants by the seventh day of life. Another
concurrently observed group of 15 infants with PDA received no
indomethacin. A third group of 11 infants lacked evidence of a PDA.
Pulmonary function in the infants who received indomethacin did not differ
significantly from that in the other two groups.
