Editorial comments: Additional aortopulmonary collaterals in patients referred for coil occlusion of a patent ductus arteriosus

✍ Scribed by O'Laughlin, Martin P.

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1996
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 37 KB
• Volume: 37
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0098-6569
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1097-0304(199601)37:1<9::aid-ccd3>3.0.co;2-i

✦ Synopsis

Dr. Ing and his colleagues nicely point to the possibility of aortopulmonary collaterals in addition to a patent ductus arterio-sus. During catheterization to close the patent ductus arteriosus, the operator may be alert for additional vessels causing a left to right shunt. As discussed by the authors, the catheterization affords an excellent opportunity to occlude and eliminate those aortopulmonary collaterals at the same procedure. A corollary of their work is that, after coil occlusion or other treatment of a ductus arteriosus, the isolated findings of a continuous murmur or Doppler flow reversal in the descending aorta cannot in themselves be used to diagnose a residual ductus. For that diagnosis, continuous flow must be found in the area of the ductus arteriosus itself by some form of Doppler testing.