Comparison of Immediate Intensive Care Outcomes of Patent Ductus Arteriosus Stenting Versus Modified Blalock-Taussig-Thomas Shunt in Infants With Ductal-Dependent Pulmonary Circulation.

Patent Ductus Arteriosus (PDA) stenting is an alternative to Modified Blalock-Taussig-Thomas Shunt (BT) to increase pulmonary blood flow in ductal-dependent pulmonary circulation. The objective of this study is to compare the immediate Intensive Care Unit (ICU) outcomes of PDA stent versus BT shunt in infants with ductal-dependent pulmonary circulation. This is a single center, retrospective study in infants less than 6 months with ductal-dependent pulmonary circulation palliated with either PDA stenting or BT shunt from January 2015 till December 2023. Data were reviewed from pediatric ICU database. Demographics details, ICU parameters, mortality and morbidity were compared. The propensity score with inverse probability weighting was used to control the effect of covariates. A total of 302 patients with PDA stenting and 100 patients with BT shunt were included. Majority of the patients had intervention at first month of life. 126 (41.7%) patient underwent PDA stenting while 36 (36%) had BTS. The PDA stenting group has shorter ICU stay, 3 (2.0,6.0) days versus 8 (4.8,13.0) days (p < 0.001), shorter length of hospital stay, 9 (6.8,15.0) days versus 16 (11.0,22.0) days (p < 0.001), shorter ventilation days, 2 (1.0,4.0) days versus 3 (2.0,7.0) days (p < 0.001) and lower mortality, 7 (2.3%) versus 16 (16.0%) (p < 0.001). At 3 months follow-up, the survival was higher in the PDA stenting group (p < 0.001). Conclusion: PDA stenting in infants with ductal-dependent pulmonary blood flow has a more favorable intensive care outcomes with shorter ICU and hospital stay. PDA stenting has a better survival outcome.