title: Cervical aortic arch with multiple aortic aneurysms that required two aortic replacements with a 34-year interval.
abstract: A 57-year old female was referred to our hospital after symptoms of hoarseness and dysphagia for a few years. She was diagnosed with a cervical vessel anomaly during childhood and had undergone surgery for a right-sided thoracic descending aortic aneurysm through a right thoracotomy at the age of 23 years. Now, enhanced computed tomography revealed newly developed multiple aneurysms in the aorta between the left carotid artery and the proximal descending aorta in the left hemithorax. A successful aortic surgical repair was accomplished via a left posterolateral thoracotomy. To our knowledge, this is the first case of a cervical aortic arch with formation of multiple aneurysms that required multiple surgeries via bilateral thoracotomies. This case suggests the inherent fragility and possibility of later aneurysmal formation in malformed vessels, thereby emphasizing the importance of periodical imaging tests in this rare congenital anomaly.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiac Surgery, Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine, Nagoya, Aichi, Japan sinngehide@yahoo.co.jp.
authors.forename: Hideki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ito
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiac Surgery, Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine, Nagoya, Aichi, Japan.
authors.forename: Tomonobu
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Abe
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiac Surgery, Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine, Nagoya, Aichi, Japan.
authors.forename: Hideki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Oshima
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiac Surgery, Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine, Nagoya, Aichi, Japan.
authors.forename: Akihiko
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Usui
mesh_terms: D001013:Aorta, Thoracic / Q000601:surgery*; D017545:Aortic Aneurysm, Thoracic / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology / Q000601:surgery*; D001015:Aortic Arch Syndromes / Q000150:complications* / Q000151:congenital / Q000175:diagnosis; D019917:Blood Vessel Prosthesis Implantation / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D012086:Reoperation; D013348:Subclavian Artery / Q000002:abnormalities*; D013997:Time Factors; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed
keywords: Aneurysm formation; Cervical aortic arch; Surgical repair