[Surgical treatment of patent ductus arteriosus]

The experience gained with 1400 operations for patent ductus arteriosus performed at the Clinic of the Hospital Surgery of the Gorky Medical Institute during the period from October 1955 through 1973 is presented. The total post-operative lethality comprised 1.3 per cent, it amounting to 6 per cent with complicated patent ductus arteriosus, to 3 per cent among children of junior age and to 0.1 per cent in cases of uncomplicated defect. An analysis of operative and post-operative complications along with a study into remote results of the surgical intervention helped define indications for the closure of the duct in patients with pulmonary hypertension and septic endarteritis. They also showed the possibility of a single-stage correction of combined congenital heart defects. Indications have been worked out for the surgical treatment of patent ductus arteriosus in infants and procedures for the closure of the duct, depending upon its apatomic variants and concomitant complications.