Making a diagnosis of a patency of a ductus arteriosus is often difficult in the first few months or first year of life. When the diagnosis is in doubt, one may profitably turn to angiocardiography for help. In this paper a method of demonstrating the patent ductus by the injection of contrast medium is described. The practical importance of the correct diagnosis is presented with reference to ...

Diagnosis of patent ductus arteriosus is rare in adulthood. Closure of ductus is difficult when diagnosed at an adult age due to the development of pulmonary hypertension and pulmonary arterial disease that generally occurs. Closure of the ductus might be contraindicated, as it may lead to deterioration of the pulmonary arterial perfusion or to a pulmonary hypertensive crisis. In addition, anot...

OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to explore the efficacy of echocardiographically guided (EchoG) pharmacological closure of the ductus arteriosus in reducing the number of required ibuprofen doses without increasing the reopening rate. METHODS We performed a randomised controlled trial that included 49 infants with a duct ≥1.5 mm who were randomised to either EchoG or standard ibuprofen tr...

A 14-month-old premature infant with a large, tubular, patent ductus arteriosus was under periodic follow-up. On ultrasound study, the ductus was seen to vary in diameter, but the persistent dilation of the left chambers and failure of the patient to thrive led us to present her for percutaneous closure. Before attempting to cross the ductus, descending aorta (Ao) angiography with a pigtail cat...

Prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) has been used to maintain patency of the ductus arteriosus in four neonates with cyanotic congenital heart disease due to obstructive right heart malformations. PGE2 was infused prior to surgery, and in three patients, during surgery until a satisfactory aorto-pulmonary shunt was established. PGE2 produced consistently an immediate and persistent rise in arterial oxygen ...

The pulsed Doppler technique was used to record the flow velocity patterns in the ductus arteriosus and the pulmonary artery in 26 patients with either isolated or complicated patent ductus arteriosus (PDA). In all patients, abnormal Doppler signals indicating left-to-right (L-R) or right-to-left shunt flow or both could be obtained at the site of the ductus arteriosus. These Doppler flow patte...

BACKGROUND Transcatheter occlusion with Gianturco coils has been attempted in a small number of patients with tiny (< or = 1.5-mm diameter) patent ductus arteriosus, and preliminary results have been encouraging. The present study extends this method to larger ductus sizes and makes recommendations for proper coil size selection. METHODS AND RESULTS Coil occlusion was attempted in 24 consecut...

Patent ductus arteriosus is frequent in premature babies. With an incidence of 1:2500-5000, it accounts for 9% to 12% of congenital heart disease. Several different drugs have been tried for closure of hemodynamically significant patent ductus arteriosus. The first to be used was indomethacin, with a success rate of 70% and a reopening rate of 35%; however, the high cost of this drug has driven...