• Antonio Rapacciuolo, Maria Angela Losi, Francesco Borgia, Maria Carmen De Angelis, Francesca Esposito, Massimo Cavallaro, Roberta De Rosa, Federico Piscione, and Massimo Chiariello.
• Division of Cardiology, Federico II University of Naples, Naples, Italy.
• J Cardiovasc Med (Hagerstown). 2009 Apr 1;10(4):344-8.

AbstractA 70-year-old man was admitted because of a 6-month history of progressive dyspnoea on exertion. The medical history showed that he suffered from patent ductus arteriosus (PDA) that was closed at 35 years of age by surgical ligation. Subsequently, up to year 1992, no evidence of residual left-to-right shunt was found. When he first came to our attention, we performed an echocardiographic test evidencing left ventricular dilation and contractile dysfunction and a recurrence of PDA. To exclude other possible causes of congestive heart failure, we performed several tests, including a coronary angiogram that showed coronary atherosclerosis without significant lesions. The haemodynamic study confirmed that the PDA was associated with a mild pulmonary hypertension with a QP: QS of 2: 1. The patient did not report any cardiovascular risk factor. Therefore, we concluded that PDA was responsible for congestive heart failure in this patient. We performed percutaneous closure of PDA, which was able to reverse left ventricular dilation and dysfunction, improving the patient's symptoms, at 1 month as well as 4 months after the interventional procedure. Although this kind of device is frequently used in the paediatric population, adult patients may present different challenges in proper management, such as poor visualization, calcification and pulmonary hypertension. In the description of the case reported here, we show that a PDA can present as congestive heart failure in the elderly. Percutaneous closure can be very effective in ameliorating left ventricular performance as well as symptoms.

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