Prenatal echocardiographic diagnosis of right aortic arch and its branch type

Abstract

Objective To investigate the value of prenatal echocardiographic diagnosis of anomalies of the right aortic arch(RAA) and its branch type, and provide rapid diagnostic methods. Methods A retrospective analysis of 55 cases of RAA of prenatal ultrasound diagnosis results, and their imaging characteristics were summarized. Results There were 55 cases of anomalies of the RAA, included 42 cases of RAA with aberrant left subclavian artery(RAA-ALSA) and 13 cases of RAA with mirror image branching pattern(RAA-MB), 1 case of double aortic arch(DAA) was misdiagnosed as RAA. The prenatal echocardiographic characteristics of RAA-ALSA: in three-vessel-aortic arch view, the first branch of the aortic arch was the left carotid artery, which ran in front of the trachea, and ALSA ran behind the trachea and esophagus. The prenatal echocardiographic characteristics of RAA-MB: the first branch of the aortic arch was the brachiocephalic trunk, which ran in front of the trachea and was divided to the left carotid artery and the left subclavian artery. Conclusions Prenatal ultrasound can qunickly and accurately diagnose anomalies of the right aortic arch and its branch type according to the direction, thickness and secondary branches of the first branch of the aortic arch. The location of arterial duct is helpful to judge the formation of vascular ring. Key words: Ultrasonography, prenatal; Right aortic arch; Vascular ring