Aortic arch anomalies

Vascular malformations of the aortic arch result from the failure to regress of the paired dorsal aorta and the paired branchial arch arteries that develop early in foetal life. The three most common anomalies, the symptoms of which are due to compression of the trachea and oesophagus (Sebening et al. 2000), are:

• Double aortic arch,

• Aorta arising on the right with a left-sided arterial duct or ligament of Botallo and

• The arteria lusoria, where the right subclavian artery originates anomalously as the last vessel from the aortic arch.

In all forms, the operation consists of division of the vascular ring and thus relief of the compression. The majority of the operations can be performed without a heart-lung machine.