title: Multislice CT angiography of interrupted aortic arch.
abstract: Interrupted aortic arch (IAA) is defined as complete luminal and anatomic discontinuity between the ascending and descending aorta. Because almost all patients with IAA become critically ill during the neonatal period, they should undergo urgent corrective surgery. This clinical urgency necessitates a fast and accurate noninvasive diagnostic method. Although echocardiography remains the primary imaging tool for this purpose, it is not always sufficient for planning surgical correction of IAA, principally due to a limited acoustic window and the inexperience of imagers. In this context, multislice CT angiography is regarded as an appropriate imaging technique complementary to echocardiography because it is fast, accurate, and objective for the diagnosis of IAA. In this article we describe what cardiac radiologists should know about IAA in their clinical practice, including clinicopathological features, CT features with contemporary surgical methods and postoperative complications, and differentiation from coarctation of the aorta and aortic arch atresia.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology and Research Institute of Radiology, Asan Medical Center, 388-1 Poongnap-2 dong, Songpa-gu, Seoul, South Korea.
authors.forename: Dong Hyun
authors.initials: DH
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Hyun Woo
authors.initials: HW
authors.lastname: Goo
authors.forename: Dong-Man
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Seo
authors.forename: Tae-Jin
authors.initials: TJ
authors.lastname: Yun
authors.forename: Jeong-Jun
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Park
authors.forename: In-Sook
authors.initials: IS
authors.lastname: Park
authors.forename: Jae Kon
authors.initials: JK
authors.lastname: Ko
authors.forename: Young Hwee
authors.initials: YH
authors.lastname: Kim
mesh_terms: D000792:Angiography / Q000379:methods*; D001013:Aorta, Thoracic / Q000002:abnormalities* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000601:surgery; D001017:Aortic Coarctation / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D006330:Heart Defects, Congenital / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000601:surgery; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D011183:Postoperative Complications / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed