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Patent Ductus Arteriosus
What is it?
Patent ductus arteriosus (pronounced pay-tent duck-tus are-teer-e-o-sus) happens when a blood vessel fails to close after a baby is born.
The ductus arteriosus is the temporary blood vessel that allows blood to bypass a baby's lungs before it is born.
It is a blood vessel that joins the pulmonary artery to the aorta. This allows blood to be shifted away from the lungs into the aorta during fetal growth since the baby does not breathe on its own until after it is born.
Prior to birth, blood flow in the fetus bypasses its lungs because the fetus gets oxygen through the placenta. But when the newborn's lungs take over at birth, the body stops making the chemicals that keep the ductus arteriosus open, and it closes.
If the ductus arteriosus remains patent (open), too much blood may go into the baby's lungs. This could lead to heart failure. A ductus that doesn't close is quite common in premature infants but rare in full-term babies.
How is it treated?
In most cases, the ductus arteriosus can be closed in the cardiac catheterization laboratory.