The present study was designed to investigate the effect of O2 on intracellular Ca concentration ([Ca]i) in the ductus arteriosus and the mechanisms for O2-induced ductal contraction. The force of isometric contraction of the ring of the ductus arteriosus isolated from fetal rabbits at 30 days of gestation (term, 31 days) was measured. The ductus arteriosus was loaded with fura 2, a calcium-sen...

Between May 2003 and July 2006, we carried out percutaneous patent ductus arteriosus closure using a Nit-Occlud device in 28 patients, who had a median age of 1.8 years (range 0.5-21 years) and a median weight of 10.9 kg (range 5.9-64 kg). The ductus arteriosus had several different morphologic forms, and there was one postsurgical recanalization of the ductus arteriosus. The median minimum duc...

A patent ductus arteriosus, very common in the preterm infant (incidence up to 70% in infants less than 28 weeks gestational age), causes a left-to-right shunt leading to overload of the pulmonary circulation and low systemic blood flow. These hemodynamic anomalies are associated with a higher incidence of respiratory, neurological, and digestive complications of prematurity, as well as a highe...

An aneurysm of the ductus arteriosus is a rare finding, particularly in the adult population. These saccular aneurysms arise at the site of an incompletely obliterated ductus arteriosus along the lesser curvature of the aortic arch. Left untreated, it is associated with a high risk of potentially life-threatening complications including rupture, infection and thromboembolism. As a result, surgi...

The patent ductus arteriosus was first described by Galen. No thought was given to the surgical treatment of patients with persistently patent ducti until 1907, when Munro described a technique for their ligation. It was not until twenty-one years later that Gross of Boston successfully ligated a patent ductus arteriosus for the first time. Since the epochal operation by Gross increased attenti...

Right aortic arch with isolation of the left subclavian artery is a rare anomaly. The incidence of bilateral ductus arteriosus is sporadic, and a right aortic arch with isolation of the left subclavian artery in association with bilateral ductus arteriosus is therefore extremely rare. Since the symptoms and signs of isolation of the left subclavian artery can include the absence or underdevelop...

IFE expectancy and the degree of invalidism have been considered a function of the type of cardiac malformation in patients with congenital heart disease. When the abnormality involves a large communication between the ventricles or great vessels, however, the pulmonary vascular bed plays an important role in governing prognosis. The following group of congenital malformations are involved in t...

Patent ductus arteriosus (PDA) is a persistent patency of a vessel normally present in the fetus that connects the pulmonary arterial system to the aorta. The ductus arteriosus fails to close at birth when breathing commences and placental blood circulation is removed. Closure of the ductus arteriosus arises in response to decline pulmonary vascular resistance and increased systemic vascular re...