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
  • DDX:
  • Complications:
  • Treatment:
  • Clinical: Left sided obstructive lesion so 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.