title: Hypoplastic right retro-oesophageal aortic arch: similarities to interrupted aortic arch.
abstract: At echocardiography a dysmorphic neonate was found to have a hypoplastic mitral valve, left ventricle, and ascending aorta with interruption of the aortic arch between the left common carotid and the left subclavian arteries--the left subclavian artery arose from a normal sized left descending aorta. Cardiac catheterisation and subsequent necropsy confirmed this arrangement but also showed a tortuous right retro-oesophageal aortic arch. This arch was severely hypoplastic distal to the right subclavian artery. These cardiovascular anomalies occurred in the child of a family in which other members showed the velo-cardio-facial syndrome, a condition known to be associated with right aortic arch. This aortic arch arrangement may be impossible to distinguish from simple aortic interruption by echocardiography alone.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, Adelaide Children's Hospital, South Australia.
authors.forename: W B
authors.initials: WB
authors.lastname: Knight
mesh_terms: D001013:Aorta, Thoracic / Q000002:abnormalities* / Q000473:pathology; D001344:Autopsy; D004452:Echocardiography; D006330:Heart Defects, Congenital / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male