Isolated neonatal ductus arteriosus aneurysm.
OBJECTIVE
A prospective study was performed to evaluate the incidence, clinical manifestations and outcome of ductus arteriosus aneurysm (DAA) in full-term neonates.


BACKGROUND
Ductus arteriosus aneurysm has been considered to be a rare congenital lesion and a potentially fatal abnormality.


METHODS
A total of 548 full-term neonates received echocardiographic screening.


RESULTS
There were 48 (8.8%) patients (28 boys and 20 girls) with DAA detected by echocardiography. The maximal diameter of the DAA ranged from 6.5 to 11.2 mm (8.2 +/- 1.2 mm). All cases were asymptomatic. There were no significant differences in gender, gestational age, maternal age or Apgar score between the newborns with or without DAA. Newborns with DAA had a higher birth body weight, higher incidence of maternal gestational diabetes mellitus and more mothers with blood group A, compared with newborns without DAA (p < 0.05). Follow-up echocardiograms showed spontaneous closure of the ductus arteriosus in all patients except those without DAA. The DAA became progressively smaller after ductal closure in 33 patients (70.2%) and completely disappeared by 7 to 35 days of life. The other 14 patients (29.8%) with DAA had echocardiographic evidence of progressive formation of thrombi between the third and tenth day of life. The DAA and thrombi spontaneously disappeared in all patients by one month after birth.


CONCLUSIONS
There is a higher incidence of DAA with a good outcome in our series compared with previous reports. We speculate that the presence of DAA may be a normal variant of the ductal bump and part of a normal process of spontaneous ductal closure in full-term neonates.
Jan
Sheng-Ling
SL
Division of Pediatric Cardiology, Department of Pediatrics, Taichung Veterans General Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan. sljan@vghtc.vghtc.gov.tw
Hwang
Betau
B
Fu
Yun-Ching
YC
Chai
Jyh-Wen
JW
Chi
Ching-Shiang
CS
D000783:Aneurysm / Q000151:congenital* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D002317:Cardiovascular Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D004373:Ductus Arteriosus / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D004374:Ductus Arteriosus, Patent / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000188:drug therapy; D018618:Echocardiography, Doppler, Color; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D021621:Imaging, Three-Dimensional; D007213:Indomethacin / Q000627:therapeutic use; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D018810:Magnetic Resonance Angiography / Q000379:methods; D008297:Male; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011859:Radiography
D002317:Cardiovascular Agents; D007213:Indomethacin