World J Pediatr Surg

. 2024 Jan 30;7(1):e000686.

 doi: 10.1136/wjps-2023-000686. eCollection 2024. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38298824/

Pulmonary artery diameter ratio as a prognostic indicator of congenital diaphragmatic hernia

Yuichiro Miyake ¹, Hiroyuki Koga ¹, Shuko Nojiri ², Shunsuke Yamada ¹, Takanori Ochi ¹, Go Miyano ³, Geoffrey J Lane ¹, Atsuyuki Yamataka ¹, Tadaharu Okazaki ³

Affiliations expand

• PMID: 38298824
• PMCID: PMC10828828
• DOI: 10.1136/wjps-2023-000686

Free PMC article

Abstract

Background: Following on from an earlier study published in 2008 about left pulmonary artery (LPA) flow measured on serial echocardiography being strongly prognostic in left-sided congenital diaphragmatic hernia (CDH) and the ratio of LPA to right pulmonary artery (RPA) diameters being a simple and reliable indicator for commencing nitric oxide (NO) therapy, the ratio of LPA:RPA diameters (PA ratio or PAR) was hypothesized to possibly reflect cardiopulmonary stresses accompanying CDH better.

Methods: Subjects with isolated left-sided CDH treated between 2007 and 2020 at a single pediatric surgical center were recruited and classified according to survival. Data obtained retrospectively for subject demographics, clinical course, LPA/RPA diameters, and PAR were compared between survivors and non-survivors. The value of PAR for optimizing the prognostic value of PA diameter data in CDH were analyzed with receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis.

Results: Of 65 subjects, there were 54 survivors (82.3%) and 11 non-survivors (17.7%); 7 of 11 non-survivors died before surgical repair could be performed. Mean PAR for survivors (0.851±0.152) was significantly higher than for non-survivors (0.672±0.108) (p=0.0003). Mean PAR for non-survivors was not affected by surgical repair. Characteristics of survivors were: LPA ≥2 mm (n=52 of 54; mean PAR=0.866±0.146) and RPA ≥3 mm (n=46 of 54; mean PAR=0.857±0.152). Non-survivors with similar LPA and RPA diameters to survivors had significantly lower mean PAR. ROC curve cut-off for PAR was 0.762. Subjects with high PAR (≥0.762) required high-frequency oscillatory ventilation/NO less than subjects with low PAR (<0.762) (p=0.0244 and p=0.0485, respectively) and subjects with high PAR stabilized significantly earlier than subjects with low PAR (1.71±0.68 days vs 3.20±0.87 days) (p<0.0001).

Conclusions: PAR would appear to be strongly correlated with clinical outcome in CDH and be useful for planning management of cardiopulmonary instability in CDH.

Keywords: congenital abnormalities; neonatology.

© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2024. Re-use permitted under CC BY-NC. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.