CORRESPONDENCE

A PDA causing an aortic aneurysm and an aneurysmcausing a ‘PDA’

Harinder Singh Bedi

Received: 1 January 2014 /Accepted: 20 March 2014# Indian Association of Cardiovascular-Thoracic Surgeons 2014

Dear Sir,An untreated patent ductus arteriosus (PDA) can getcomplicated by pulmonary artery hypertension (PAH),calcification or rupture. Rarely, it may produce an an-eurysm. On the other hand, an expanding ‘malignant’aortic aneurysm can burrow into surrounding tissuesincluding the pulmonary artery, producing an acquiredaortopulmonary communication. We came across twosuch interesting related cases. Case report 1: A 75-year-old known case of untreated PDA presented withhoarseness of voice. Computed tomography (CT)(Fig. 1) revealed a large aneurysm (A) at the site of

Fig. 3 Case 2: CT scan showing the aneurysm (A) opening into thepulmonary artery (P, arrow)

Fig. 2 Case 2: CT scan showing the aneurysm (A)

H. S. Bedi (*)Department of Cardiovascular Endovascular and Thoracic Surgery,Christian Medical College & Hospital, Ludhiana, Punjab 141008,Indiae-mail: drhsbedi12@yahoo.com

Fig. 1 Case 1: computed tomography (CT) scan showing a large aneu-rysm (A) at the site of the PDA

Indian J Thorac Cardiovasc SurgDOI 10.1007/s12055-014-0281-1

the PDA. The patient refused surgical treatment. Casereport 2: A 65-year-old known case of untreated aorticaneurysm presented with features of acute CHF.Examination showed a continuous murmur with pulmo-nary edema. She was intubated. A CT scan (Figs. 2 and 3)showed that the aneurysm (A) had opened into the

pulmonary artery (P) (arrow, Fig. 3). She underwent ahybrid procedure with debranching of the arch vesselsand an aortic stent to completely seal off the communi-cation and the aneurysm.

Conflict of interest No competing interest declared.

Indian J Thorac Cardiovasc Surg