Beschreibung:
<jats:p>Patent ductus arteriosus is the third most common congenital cardiovascular anomaly, however, it is rarely found in the elderly. We describe a case of patent ductus arteriosus in a 72‐year‐old woman in whom patent ductus arteriosus was successfully managed by transcatheter coil embolization. The patient had been diagnosed with a heart murmur for the first time 1 year earlier at the age of 71. She was asymptomatic but a continuous murmur was heard. Cardiac catheterization revealed migration of a catheter from the main pulmonary artery into the descending aorta through a patent ductus arteriosus and a significant step‐up of oxygen saturation in the main pulmonary artery with a pulmonary‐to‐systemic flow ratio of 1.68. Aortograms demonstrated a communication between the aorta and the pulmonary artery through a patent ductus arteriosus with a minimal diameter of 3.7 mm. Transcatheter coil embolization of the patent ductus arteriosus was successfully carried out with two 0.052‐inch‐diameter Gianturco coils. Doppler echocardiographic study confirmed no residual shunt in the main pulmonary artery after the procedure. Non‐surgical transcatheter occlusion using coil embolization appears to be an effective and minimally invasive technique for treatment of patent ductus arteriosus in the elderly.</jats:p>