Interrupted Aortic Arch

  • Etiology: congenital
  • Imaging: no luminal continuity between ascending aorta and descending thoracic aorta, interruption can occur between innominate artery and left common carotid artery / left common carotid artery and left subclavian artery / distal to left subclavian artery, most also have aortic or subaortic stenosis
  • Clinical: left sided obstructive lesion, neonatal ductal dependent

Radiology Cases of Interrupted Aortic Arch

CT of interrupted aortic arch
Axial CT with contrast of the heart (above), obtained in a venous phase, shows discontinuity of the ascending and descending aorta while the sagittal image (below right) shows a dilated patent ductus arteriosus reconstituting the descending aorta and the coronal image (below left) shows dextrocardia.