The Role of Computed Tomography in The Diagnosis of Rare Congenital Heart Disease: Interrupted Aortic Arch

Interrupted aortic arch (IAA) is a rare congenital anomaly of the aortic arch and an anatomical interruption of the lumen between the ascending and descending aorta. Computed tomography (CT) has become a reliable noninvasive diagnostic method for congenital IAA. The purpose of this study was to investigate the imaging features of IAA and improve the understanding and diagnosis of the disease. The imaging features and postoperative pathological data of 25 patients with IAA confirmed by dual-source computed tomography (DSCT) angiography were analyzed in this retrospective study. Among the 25 patients with IAA, 15 were type A, seven were type B, 0 were types C and D, and two were type E. The diameter of the pulmonary artery trunk in type A was larger than that in type B (P < 0.05). However, there were no significant differences between types A and B along the ascending aorta diameter, descending aorta, ascending aorta/descending aorta ratio, left pulmonary artery main trunk diameter, right pulmonary artery main trunk diameter, left pulmonary artery trunk/pulmonary artery trunk ratio, right pulmonary artery trunk/pulmonary artery trunk ratio, and left pulmonary artery trunk/right pulmonary artery trunk ratio. The imaging findings of IAA have typical and specific signs, and the types of IAA are not comprehensive. One type of patient identification can be added: Patients who are dissected between the left common carotid artery and left subclavian artery opening, and the descending aorta is circulated by the chest collaterals. Patients with a wide pulmonary artery in the IAA are usually type A patients. Patients with IAA after surgical repair require lifetime follow up, mainly to monitor left ventricular outflow tract obstruction and recurrent aortic coarctation. This study was approved by the Ethics Committee of Kunming Yan'an Hospital (Kunming City, Yunnan Province, China), and consent was waived because of the retrospective data collection.