Continuous Murmurs in Cyanotic Congenital Heart Disease

A continuous murmur resembling that of persistent ductus arteriosus is not rare in cyanotic congenital heart disease, and patients with such a murmur present a striking and interesting clinical picture. The simple explanation that it is due to a persistent ductus is sometimes correct, but more often it is due to the blood flow through enlarged bronchial arteries. We are reporting 45 examples of such patients with an undoubted continuous murmur-27 seen among our first 670 patients with cyanotic congenital heart disease (4yo) and 18 seen subsequently. Generally the murmur was easily heard and widely conducted, and in all but four it was one of the striking physical signs.