RIGHT-SIDED AORTA WITH DESCENDING AORTA SIMULATING ANEURYSM

Abstract

The importance of roentgenography in the diagnosis of congenital cardiac abnormalities has been greatly stressed within the last two decades.¹ As a result of this trend, there has been an increase in the percentage of aortic anomalies which have been correctly diagnosed during life. However, in spite of routine roentgen studies of the aorta, including esophagrams and roentgenokymograms, the congenital defect is often missed, mainly because the shadow of the aorta cannot be distinguished from the overlying densities of the spine and of the mediastinal structures. This difficulty has recently been largely overcome by the use of contrast roentgenograms of the cardiovascular system.² The entire aorta, from its origin deep in the cardiac mass, to its final subdivision into the iliac arteries, can now be visualized with this technic.³ It is our purpose in this paper to report a case of right-sided aorta which, both by fluoroscopic