Symptoms are uncommon at birth and shortly thereafter, but later in the first year of life there is often the onset of an increased work of breathing and failure to gain weight at a normal rate.

[1] In a PDA, the vessel does not close, but remains patent (open), resulting in an abnormal transmission of blood from the aorta to the pulmonary artery.

Echocardiography (in which sound waves are used to capture the motion of the heart) and associated Doppler studies are the primary methods of detecting PDA.

[7] A chest X-ray may be taken, which reveals overall heart size (as a reflection of the combined mass of the cardiac chambers) and the appearance of blood flow to the lungs.

[8] Administering ibuprofen probably helps to prevent PDA and reduce the need for surgery but it also likely increases the risk of kidney complications.

[citation needed] Devices developed by Franz Freudenthal block the blood vessel with woven structures of nitinol wire.

[3][14][15] Findings from a 2015 systematic review concluded that, for closure of a PDA in preterm and/or low birth weight infants, ibuprofen is as effective as indomethacin.

Keeping a ductus arteriosus patent is indicated in neonates born with concurrent heart malformations, such as transposition of the great vessels.

[citation needed] Robert Edward Gross, MD performed the first successful ligation of a patent ductus arteriosus on a seven-year-old girl at Children's Hospital Boston in 1938.