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Updated: Aug 18, 2026

Murine Fetal Echocardiography
Published on: February 15, 2013
Imaging of the ductus venosus in neonates: from patency to closure
A Vade1, J Lim-Dunham, N Iqbal
1Department of Radiology, Loyola University Medical Center, Maywood, Illinois 60153, USA.
Objective:
To familiarize the radiologist with the variable sonographic appearance of the involuting ductus venosus in neonates.
Methods:
Five sick neonates ranging in age from 24 to 42 weeks had abdominal sonographic examinations to check for intra-abdominal diseases.
Results:
Doppler sonography showed a patent ductus venosus in 3 neonates and a ductus venosus with thrombosis in 2 neonates. The ductus venosus was identified in the liver between the left portal vein and the inferior vena cava. In 2 patients, follow-up sonography showed that the ductus venosus progressively had thrombosis and then disappeared.
Conclusions:
The ductus venosus in a neonate has a variable sonographic appearance depending on its stage of involution. Its detection in a sick neonate can lead to inadvertent diagnosis of a hepatic varix, an abscess, or a tumor.
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