Two-dimensional echocardiographic and color flow Doppler evaluation of ductal occlusion with the Rashkind prosthesis.

To evaluate the results of ductal occlusion with the Rashkind prosthesis, 78 children (group 1, 19 boys and 59 girls; mean age at occlusion, 4.5 +/- 4.0 years) with isolated patent ductus arteriosus (n = 73) or in association with other lesions (n = 5) were evaluated by pulsed and color flow Doppler 9 +/- 7 months (range, 2-26 months) after occlusion. Thirty children who had undergone patent ductus arteriosus ligation (group 2, 9 boys and 21 girls; mean age at study, 5.7 +/- 4.9 years; mean follow-up after ligation, 44 +/- 58 months) were evaluated in the same way. The prevalence of residual ductal shunting and the main pulmonary arterial flow patterns were recorded. Residual ductal shunting in group 1 was 38% on day 1, decreasing slowly to 31% at 3 months, 27% at 6 months, and 19.7% at 1 year or more due to further spontaneous shunt resolution. The residual shunting rate in group 2 (6%) was significantly lower than that at 1 year or more in group 1 (p less than 0.001). Successful reocclusion in 5 of 6 in a subset of patients in group 1 followed for 1 year or less reduced further the prevalence of residual shunting. Residual shunting after patent ductus arteriosus occlusion is more common than after ligation, but continues to decrease during follow-up.