Materials and Methods
This study involved a retrospective review of the clinical and operative records of 27 preterm infants (gestational age < 37 weeks) who had surgical closure of PDA with left anterior minithoracotomy technique between November 2020 and January 2022 at a single instution. 27 patiens underwent PDA closure with this technique (9 male, 18 female). Same pediatric surgeon operated all the patients. PDA was closed in premature infants who had congestive heart failure despite medical treatment or showed a large left to right shunt on echocardiogram causing increased mechanical ventilatory support, hypotension requiring inotropic support, oliguria/renal failure or feeding intolerance/failure to gain weight The range of the weight at operation was 480–2700 g. Preoperatively, 26 infants were ventilator‐dependent.
Data on early postoperative outcomes and survival rates after discharge were collected. Baseline information of patients are shown in Table 1. The data collected include medical treatment time, preoperative mechanical ventilation (MV) support(days), PDA closure with clip or ligation, operation time, intraoperative blood loss, conversion to sternotomy or thoracotomy, use of inotropic agents, surgery related complications, postoperative length of stay(days), hospital length of stay(days), transfer to another hospital, postoperative MV time(days), complications in the intensive care unit, hospital mortality and number of patients still alive. All operations were performed in the operating room of our hospital.