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.
3D CT of interrupted aortic arch
Anterior (left), oblique (second from left), posterior (third from left) and lateral (right) views from a 3D CT with contrast of the chest shows the ascending aorta is hypoplastic and the aortic arch is interrupted distal to the left subclavian artery. There is a very large patent ductus arteriosus suppling the descending aorta and the main and left and right pulmonary arteries are dilated.