Parameter extraction for diagnosing patent ductus arteriosus in preterm neonates using phonocardiography

In this paper a method is described for parameter extraction from murmur related to patent ductus arteriosus (PDA) in case of preterm infants using phonocardiography. The relationship between the extracted time and frequency domain parameters and the medical parameters of the patent ductus arteriosus has been investigated. This analysis revealed that the frequency parameters of the murmur could be related to the diameter of the PDA and to the maximal blood flow velocity through the PDA. Nevertheless the results are promising, further work is needed for more reliable parameter estimation for robust verification of the mentioned relationships.