title: Persistent fifth aortic arch: an ignored and underestimated disease.
abstract: We report two unique cases of persistent fifth aortic arch with a systemic-to-pulmonary connection. All previously reported cases with such a connection in the literature have either been cases of pulmonary atresia or an aortic arch anomaly, and the existence of a fifth aortic arch was a benefit to the underlying great vessel anomaly. However, our two cases did not have this associated great vessel anomaly, and the fifth arch resulted in a large left-to-right shunt with severe pulmonary hypertension and heart failure. The first case was misdiagnosed preoperatively; an accurate diagnosis was made after cardiac surgery. Because of its rarity and complexity, a persistent fifth aortic arch is often ignored and misdiagnosed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Kaohsiung Medical University, Taiwan.
authors.forename: C C
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Chiu
authors.forename: J R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: H M
authors.initials: HM
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Y T
authors.initials: YT
authors.lastname: Lin
mesh_terms: D001011:Aorta / Q000002:abnormalities; D001013:Aorta, Thoracic / Q000002:abnormalities* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000601:surgery*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004452:Echocardiography; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D011651:Pulmonary Artery / Q000002:abnormalities