France
Case report
A 28 year-old G2P1 was referred to our department at 35 weeks of her pregnancy. Her previous ultrasound examinations at 12 and 23 weeks were reported to be normal and the course of the pregnancy was uneventful. The estimated risk for Down syndrome was 1/29000.
Our ultrasound cardiac examination revealed normal four-chamber view of the heart, but there was a dilated vessel seen close to the aortic and ductal arches at the level of the three-vessel view. Small movements of the probe and color Doppler examination confirmed that the abnormal vessel was actually aneurysm of the ductus arteriosus.
The short axis view of the great vessels at 23 week was showing normal aspect of th ductus arteriosus.
No other anomalies were found.
The diagnosis was confirmed after the delivery. The closure of the ductus arteriosus was normal and the newborn was without any abnormal clinical symptoms.
Images 1, 2: The images compare the appearance of the ductus arteriosus at 23 and 35 weeks of the pregnancy. The image 1 shows normal appearance of ductus arteriosus at 23 weeks of pregnancy. The image 2 shows aneurysm of the ductus arteriosus ate the level of the three-vessel view.