If a physician wants to keep a patent ductus arteriosus (PDA) open in a newborn with transposition of the great vessels, what is the recommended treatment?

To maintain a patent ductus arteriosus (PDA) in a newborn with transposition of the great vessels, the administration of a prostaglandin agent is the recommended treatment. Prostaglandin E1, in particular, is used for this purpose. The PDA provides an essential shunt that allows for the mixing of blood between the systemic and pulmonary circulations, which is critical because, in transposition of the great vessels, the aorta and the pulmonary artery are switched, leading to a separation of oxygenated and deoxygenated blood.

By using prostaglandins, the ductus arteriosus is kept open, thus facilitating oxygenated blood from the pulmonary circulation to mix with deoxygenated blood from the systemic circulation, thereby improving oxygen delivery to the body until more definitive surgical correction can be made.

The other options do not address the necessary physiological need to maintain the PDA in this clinical situation. For example, hyperbaric oxygen therapy is primarily used to treat decompression sickness and carbon monoxide poisoning, 100% oxygen is typically used for hypoxemia but would not effectively keep the PDA open, and indomethacin (often referred to as Indocin) is actually used to close a PDA rather than maintain it