For nearly 65% of pre-term infants, the vessel used to breathe pre-birth fails to close, causing a condition known as patent ductus arteriosus, or PDA. This condition shifts blood flow into an abnormal path which can strain the heart, congest the lungs and steal blood and oxygen from the newborn baby’s brain and other organs. Researchers at the University of Michigan have discovered a new way to measure the blood flow to the brains of newborn babies, which has great potential to increase the chance of finding diagnoses and treatments across medicine. Jonathan Rubin, M.D., Ph.D., professor emeritus of radiology at the University of Michigan Medical School discusses different implants and how the treatment can go in the long run, as well as how the measurement goes generally.
