Q. What does my baby's echocardiogram report indicate?

Hi,

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I have seen the reports of echocardiogram (attachment removed to protect patient identity).

The patient has a condition called patent ductus arteriosus. Usually ductus arteriosus closes at birth of a baby, but sometimes, it remains patent and does not close naturally. This condition is called patent ductus arteriosus.

Labored breathing and poor weight gain are the earliest signs of PDA. An uncorrected PDA may lead to congestive heart failure with increasing age.

PDAs can be closed by percutaneous interventional method (avoiding open heart surgery). A platinum coil can be deployed through a catheter through the femoral vein or femoral artery, which induces thrombosis (coil embolization). Alternatively, a PDA occluder device composed of nitinol mesh is deployed from the pulmonary artery through the PDA.

The echo of the baby shows left-to-right shunt. It is a good time to do the surgery as after a particular time due to right ventricle hypertrophy the shunt reverses itself, which is called reversal of shunt and complicates the prognosis.

If left untreated, the disease may progress from left-to-right shunt (acyanotic heart) to right-to-left shunt (cyanotic heart) called Eisenmenger's syndrome.

Pulmonary hypertension is a potential long-term outcome, which may require a heart or lung transplant. Another complication of PDA is intraventricular hemorrhage.

Patent ductus arteriosus.

surgery.

For further information consult a cardiologist online.---> https://www.icliniq.com/ask-a-doctor-online/cardiologist