Electrocardiography (ECG), in which electrodes are used to record the electrical activity of the heart, is not particularly helpful as no specific rhythms or ECG patterns can be used to detect PDA.A chest X-ray may be taken, which reveals overall heart size (as a reflection of the combined mass of the cardiac chambers) and the appearance of blood flow to the lungs. A small PDA most often accompanies a normal-sized heart and normal blood flow to the lungs. A large PDA generally accompanies an enlarged cardiac silhouette and increased blood flow to the lungs. Prevention
Some evidence suggests that intravenous NSAIDs, such as indomethacin, administration on the first day of life to all preterm infants reduces the risk of developing a PDA and the complications associated with PDA. Intravenous Indomethacin treatment in premature infants also may reduce the need for surgical intervention. Administering ibuprofen probably helps to prevent PDA and reduce the need for surgery but it also likely increases the risk of kidney complications. Treatment
Symptomatic PDA can be treated with both surgical and non-surgical methods. Conservative
Neonates without adverse symptoms may simply be monitored as outpatients. Surgery
Surgically, the DA may be closed by ligation (though support in premature infants is mixed). This can either be performed manually and be tied shut, or with intravascular coils or plugs that leads to formation of a thrombus in the DA.Devices developed by Franz Freudenthal block the blood vessel with woven structures of nitinol wire.Newer procedures performed effectively in older, bigger children include catheter PDA occlusion and video-assisted thoracoscopic PDA clipping.
Drugs such as alprostadil, a PGE-1 analog, can be used to keep a PDA open until the primary defect is corrected surgically. Prognosis
If left untreated, the disease may progress from left-to-right shunt (acyanotic heart) to right-to-left shunt (cyanotic heart), called Eisenmengers syndrome. Pulmonary hypertension is a potential long-term outcome, which may require a heart and/or lung transplant. Another complication of PDA is intraventricular hemorrhage. History
Robert Edward Gross, MD performed the first successful ligation of a patent ductus arteriosus on a seven-year-old girl at Childrens Hospital Boston in 1938. Adult
Since PDA is usually identified in infants, it is less common in adults, but it can have serious consequences, and is usually corrected surgically upon diagnosis. See also
George Alexander Gibson

References
External links
Patent Ductus Arteriosus Causes from US Department of Health and Human Services
Patent Ductus Arteriosus from Merck
Patent ductus arteriosus information for parents.