Ligation of patent ductus arteriosus in premature neonates: anesthetic management.

A retrospective study covering a five-year period was conducted on 40 premature neonates who had had general anesthesia for surgical correction of patent ductus arteriosus. The anesthetic management of these patients was carefully reviewed. The mean weight at surgery was 1,243 gm, and the mean gestational age at birth was 29.5 weeks. Various technics of anesthesia were used, the most common being the use of nitrous oxide, oxygen, relaxant, and narcotics. There were no intraoperative deaths. Two patients had massive blood loss intraoperatively. There were 12 postoperative deaths in the series, and 12 patients had serious long-term disability, many were combinations of hearing, visual, and psychomotor disturbances. Advances in neonatology, surgery, and anesthesiology have improved the outlook of these seriously ill patients.