Lexic.us

Definition of Ductus arteriosus

1. Noun. A blood vessel in a fetus that bypasses pulmonary circulation by connecting the pulmonary artery directly to the ascending aorta; normally closes at birth.

Definition of Ductus arteriosus

1. Noun. a shunt that connects the pulmonary artery to the aorta during fetal development ¹

¹ Source: wiktionary.com

Medical Definition of Ductus arteriosus

1. Before birth, the blood headed from the heart (via the pulmonary artery) for the lungs is shunted away from the lungs and returned to the greatest of arteries (the aorta). The shunt is through a short vessel called the ductus arteriosus. When the shunt is open, it is said to be patent (pronounced pa'tent). The patent ductus arteriosus (PDA) usually closes at or shortly after birth and blood is permtted from that moment on to course freely to the lungs. If the ductus stays open (patent), flow reverses and blood from the aorta is shunted into the pulmonary artery and recirculated through the lungs. The PDA may close later spontaneously (on its own) or need to be ligated (tied off) surgically. (12 Dec 1998)

Lexicographical Neighbors of Ductus Arteriosus

Literary usage of Ductus arteriosus

Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:

1. Monographic Medicine by William Robie Patten Emerson, Guido Guerrini, William Brown, Wendell Christopher Phillips, John Whitridge Williams, John Appleton Swett, Hans Günther, Mario Mariotti, Hugh Grant Rowell (1916)
"The ductus arteriosus normally closes within the first week after birth; failure to close ... Patent ductus arteriosus as already mentioned is, as a rule, ..."

2. The American Journal of the Medical Sciences by Southern Society for Clinical Investigation (U.S.) (1908)
"PERSISTENT patency of the ductus arteriosus has been the topic of several extensive ... Therefore, although the occurrence of a patent ductus arteriosus ..."

3. Anatomy, descriptive and surgical by Henry Gray (1867)
"The ductus arteriosus is a short tube, about half an inch in length at birth, and of the diameter of a goose-quill. It connects the left branch of the ..."

4. A Treatise on Human Physiology by John Call Dalton (1871)
"The ductus arteriosus is at first as large as the pulmonary trunk itself; and nearly the whole of the blood, coming from the right ventricle, ..."

5. Quain's Elements of Anatomy by Jones Quain, Edward Albert Sharpey-Schäfer, George Dancer Thane (1890)
"This separation, as well as that occurring between the currents passing through the aortic arch and the ductus arteriosus into the descending aorta, ..."

6. Proceedings of the Society for Experimental Biology and Medicine (1903)
"It is helpful to view ductus arteriosus closure as both a physiological and anatomical event; that is to say, the ductus arteriosus responds to varying ..."

7. The Practitioner by Gale Group, ProQuest Information and Learning Company (1900)
"Patent ductus arteriosus. Lewis Connor briefly narrates three cases of thoracic aneurysm treated by subcutaneous injections of gelatine (Med. ..."

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