title: Aberrant innominate artery may complicate a potentially safe surgery.
abstract: Surgeries of the anterior neck include thyroid surgery, open or percutaneous dilatational tracheotomy, bronchoscopy, mediastinoscopy and oesophagoscopy. These are potentially safe surgeries with mortality rates less than 1%. Today, the most common cause of death following a tracheotomy is haemorrhage and, following thyroid surgery, the causes are haemorrhage, giant goitres and upper airway complications. Bronchoscopies and mediastinoscopies are almost never fatal. While operating around the trachea, no major vessel is encountered in the surgical field. We report a case in which an aberrant innominate artery was encountered crossing anterior to the trachea just below the thyroid isthmus. As it is an uncommon finding, even minor complacency can lead to torrential bleeding culminating in death. Thus, we recommend surgeons to be vigilant for any aberrant artery in the surgical field rather than finding it accidentally; thereby preventing any complications in a potentially safe surgery.
authors.affiliation: Department of MS ENT, Government Medical College, Surat, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India.
authors.forename: Varun Jitendra
authors.initials: VJ
authors.lastname: Dave
authors.affiliation: Department of ENT, Government Medical College, Surat, Surat, Gujarat, India.
authors.forename: Ila Balakrishna
authors.initials: IB
authors.lastname: Upadhya
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D016122:Brachiocephalic Trunk / Q000002:abnormalities / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D056364:Colloid Cysts / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery; D005260:Female; D006470:Hemorrhage / Q000209:etiology / Q000401:mortality; D006801:Humans; D009333:Neck / Q000002:abnormalities / Q000098:blood supply* / Q000601:surgery; D013961:Thyroid Gland / Q000002:abnormalities / Q000098:blood supply* / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery; D013965:Thyroidectomy / Q000379:methods; D014132:Trachea / Q000002:abnormalities / Q000098:blood supply* / Q000601:surgery