Persistence of Fetal Ductus Function

Within recent years there has been increasing interest in the presence of reversed flow through the ductus arteriosus. Most reported cases have been in older children and young adults. There is a group of cases in which the ductus serves as a site of a veno-arterial shunt in infancy, and thus continues to perform its fetal function. The conditions under which veno-arterial shunting persists after birth are illustrated and analyzed, and an effort is made to clarify the common features of these lesions.