Indomethacin for the prevention of symptomatic patent ductus arteriosus in very low birth weight infants.

To assess the efficacy of prophylactic indomethacin in reducing the incidence of symptomatic patent ductus arteriosus, thirty two preterm infants weighing 750-1500 gm at birth were randomized to receive oral indomethacin or placebo. Fifteen infants received oral indomethacin with a dosage of 0.2 mg/kg at the 24th, 36th and 60th hour of age as the study group. The other 17 infants received 1 ml 0.33% saline in 5% G/W solution at the same schedule. Birth weight, gestational age, male/female ratio and severity of respiratory distress syndrome were similar for both groups. Nine of the 16 survivors of control group developed symptomatic patent ductus arteriosus. On the contrary, only two of the 14 survivors who received prophylactic indomethacin developed symptomatic PDA (P less than 0.05). There were no significant difference in the development of bronchopulmonary dysplasia, duration of oxygen therapy, duration of endotracheal intubation, days required to regain birth weight or complication between these two groups. The results indicated that the use of prophylactic oral indomethacin is beneficial in the prevention of symptomatic PDA in very low birth weight infant.