Earlier this year,  Dr. R. Allen Ligon, a cardiologist at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta’s Heart Center, and the Children’s Cardiac Cath Lab team successfully completed a Patent Ductus Arteriosus (PDA) closure in a 22.3-week premature infant weighing 690 grams (about 1.5 pounds). Since then, the team has performed an effective PDA using a catheter-delivered device on a premature infant weighing 510 grams or 1.1 pounds

 The Cardiac Cath Lab team performed the procedure by accessing a vein in the baby’s leg, then navigating the catheter and PDA closure device up through the heart inside the PDA. The device was then carefully placed within the PDA to create a controlled clot and effectively close the vessel.

Six days following the procedure, the baby gained 135 grams, was off blood pressure support meds, and weaned down significantly on respiratory ventilator support. She was transferred back to the referring Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at Northeast Georgia Medical Center. 

“This new program allows for surrounding hospitals to transfer to Children’s for the procedure, and in the long run, assist in saving the lives of extremely premature babies,” says Dr. Ligon.