All issues > Volume 39(5); 1996

Case Report

J Korean Pediatr Soc. 1996;39(5):727-731. Published online May 15, 1996.

An Autopsy Case of Double Aortic Arch

Ji Sook JS Kim¹, Yong Myung YM Jo¹, Kyung Hee KH Ko¹, Eun Ryoung ER Kim¹, Je Grun JG Chi²

¹Department of Pediatrics, Sung-Ae General Hospital, Seoul, Korea
²Department of Pathology, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea

Abstract

Double aortic arch is the most common type of symptomatic vascularring. In most patients, the symptoms are manifested at birth or in early infancy. Double aortic arch usually has more severe symptoms than other types of complete vascular rings. We experienced one case of complete duplicated double aortic arch with left descending aorta and left patent ductus arteriosus. A one-day-old female neonate was transferred to our hospital because of mild dyspnea and stridor. She showed intractable CO2 retention and respiratory difficulty with time in spite of ventilator therapy. She died of respiratory failure 23 hours after birth. On autopsy, we found that the diameter of the vascular ring was 0.7cm in maximum extent. It was ovoid and contained trachea and esophagus. The trachea was flattened due to allowing 0.1¡¿0.2cm. The compression level of the trachea was approximately 1cm from the tracheal bifurcation.

Keywords :Double aortic arch, Congenital heart disease, Respiratory distress