The purpose of this work is to realize an anatomic and topographic study of the ductus arteriosus in newborn cadavers emphasizing its lenght and diameter according to each size of the newborn cadaver. We also describe distances between the ductus and important structures for thoracoscopic approach. We study sixteen newborn cadavers. Eight were male. Size of the cadavers, thoracic and cephalic perimeters ranged from 42-47,26-35 and 29-35,5 cm, respectively. Median lenght and diameter were 11,06 and 5,56 mm. Distances between ductus arteriosus and follow structures were: collarbone-22,13mm, second rib-20,75mm, sternum-33,88mm and left subclavian artery-5,30mm. We belived that these distances described can facilitate thoracoscopic surgical approach to the ductus arteriosus.
Patent ductus arteriosus; Video-assisted thoracoscopy
