Ductus arteriosus

Medical Terminology Daily (MTD) is a blog sponsored by Clinical Anatomy Associates, Inc. as a service to the medical community. We post anatomical, medical or surgical terms, their meaning and usage, as well as biographical notes on anatomists, surgeons, and researchers through the ages. Be warned that some of the images used depict human anatomical specimens.

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A Moment in History

Jean Louis Petit
(1674 – 1750)

French surgeon and anatomist, Jean Louis Petit was born in Paris in on March 13, 1674. His family rented an apartment at his house to Alexis Littre (1658 – 1726), a French anatomist. Petit became an apprentice of Littre at seven years of age, helping him in the dissections for his lectures and at an early age became the assistant in charge of the anatomic amphitheater.

Because of Petit’s dedication to anatomy and medicine, in 1690 at the age of sixteen, became a disciple of a famous Paris surgeon, Castel.

In 1692, Petit entered the French army and performed surgery in two military campaigns. By 1693 he started delivering lectures and was accepted as a great surgeon, being invited to the most difficult operations. In 1700 he was appointed Chief Surgeon of the Military School in Paris and in the same year he received the degree of Master of Surgery from the Faculty of Paris.

In 1715 he was made a member of the Royal Academy of Sciences and an honorary member of the Royal Society of London. He was appointed by the King as the first Director General of the Royal Academy of Surgery when it was founded in 1731.

Petit’s written works are of historical importance. “Traite des Maladies des Os” ( A Treatise on Bone Diseases); “Traite des Maladies Chirurgicales et des Operation” (A Treatise on Surgical Diseases and their Operations” This last book was published posthumously in 1774. He also published a monograph on hemorrhage, another on lachrymal fistula, and others.

He was one of the first to perform choIecystotomy and mastoidotomy. His original tourniquet design for amputations saved many in the battlefield and the design of the same surgical instrument today has not changed much since its invention by him.

His name is remembered in the lumbar triangle, also called the "triangle of Petit", and the abdominal hernia that can ensue through that area of weakness, the lumbar hernia or "Petit's hernia".

Sources:
1. “Jean Louis Petit – A Sketch of his Life, Character, and Writings” Hayne, AP San Fran Western Lancet 1875 4: 446-454
2. “Oeuvres compl?tes de Jean-Louis Petit” 1837 Imprimerie de F. Chapoulaud
3. Extraits de l'eloge de Jean-Louis Petit Ius dans Ia seance publique de I' Academie royale de chirurgie du 26 mai 1750” Louis A. Chirurgie 2001: 126 : 475- 81

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Ductus arteriosus

Published: Monday, February 02, 2015 07:00 | Written by: Efrain A. Miranda, Ph.D. | Hits: 3608

The term [ductus arteriosus] is Latin and means “arterial duct”. The ductus arteriosus a component of fetal circulation and is a communication between the left pulmonary artery, close to its origin from the pulmonary trunk, and the inferior aspect of the aortic arch. This structure is also called the “duct of Botallus”.

The fetus oxygenates its blood using the placenta; therefore it does not need to use its lungs. The fetal blood is diverted from the right atrium to the left atrium through the foramen ovale. Still, some blood will pass from the right atrium to the right ventricle and then through the pulmonary valve into the pulmonary trunk. The ductus arteriosus will divert most of this blood, so that instead of going into the lungs, the blood will go into the aortic arch and then to the systemic circulation.

Four chamber section of the heart

Once the baby is born, this right to left shunt is not needed and the foramen ovale will close immediately after birth, while the ductus arteriosus will slowly reduce its diameter to be completely closed in a few days. If this closure does not happen, the condition will be referred to as a “patent ductus arteriosus” or PDA.

Once the ductus arteriosus is close it is referred to as the “ligamentum arteriosus” or the “ligament of Botallus”, named after Leonardo Botallus (c.1530-????)

Sources:
1. "Gray's Anatomy"38th British Ed. Churchill Livingstone 1995
2. "Tratado de Anatomia Humana" Testut et Latarjet 8 Ed. 1931 Salvat Editores, Spain
Image by BrownCow. [Public domain], from Wikimedia Commons

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