Journal of Cardiovascular Computed Tomography
Volume 4, Issue 5 , Pages 293-300, September 2010

Right aortic arch and its variants

  • Jeffrey P. Kanne, MD

      Affiliations

    • Department of Radiology, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, MC 3252, 600 Highland Avenue, Madison, WI 53572-3252, USA
    • Corresponding Author InformationCorresponding author.
    • ,
  • J. David Godwin, MD

      Affiliations

    • Department of Radiology, University of Washington Medical Center, Seattle, WA, USA

Received 11 January 2010; accepted 8 July 2010. published online 22 July 2010.

Abstract 

A number of congenital anomalies of the aortic arch complex can occur, ranging from asymptomatic normal variations in arch vessel branch pattern to symptomatic vascular rings, stenoses, and arch interruptions with a frequency ranging from 0.5% to 3.0%. A right aortic arch is present in 0.1% of the population and can occur in isolation or be associated with congenital heart disease. Patients may present at any age with signs and symptoms of airway or esophageal compression, heart failure, or abnormal chest imaging studies. This pictorial essay will show the computed tomography and appearances of congenital variations of the right aortic arch and use Edwards’ hypothetical embryonic double aortic arch model to explain the cause of some of these variants.

Keywords: Aorta, Congenital, Right aortic arch, Double aortic arch, Computed tomography

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 Conflict of interest: Jeffrey P. Kanne is a consultant for superDimension, Inc (not relevant to content of manuscript) and for PTC Therapeutics Inc (not relevant to content of manuscript). Dr Godwin reports no conflicts of interest.

PII: S1934-5925(10)00462-4

doi:10.1016/j.jcct.2010.07.002

Journal of Cardiovascular Computed Tomography
Volume 4, Issue 5 , Pages 293-300, September 2010

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