A "double disk" occlusion device (Rashkind PDA occluder system) has been designed to allow transcatheter closure of patent ductus arteriosus (PDA). During a 3-year period, we examined 37 infants and children (not premature neonates) with PDA as their only significant cardiovascular defect. Seventy-eight percent of these patients were considered potential candidates for the use of the PDA occlusion device, and it was successfully placed in all but 2 of 27 patients who underwent cardiac catheterization (PDA too small in one and too large in one). Only one of the remaining 25 patients had a significant residual shunt after placement of the device, which therefore was removed in the catheterization laboratory before surgical ligation of the PDA. There was no clinical evidence of a residual PDA in any patient. The duration of hospitalization was less than 24 hours for each of the last 20 procedures. Echocardiography demonstrated return to normal chamber dimensions in all patients, but a tiny, clinically undetectable residual leak around the device was found in three patients by Doppler evaluation. The transcatheter procedure was preferred over surgery by more than 90% of families and can be completed with a much shorter hospitalization than surgical ligation. We conclude that transcatheter closure of patent ductus arteriosus is feasible in the majority of children with PDA.