Congenital Aortic Vascular Ring

Abstract

Compression of the trachea and esophagus by vascular anomalies of the aortic arch and its branches may be a threat to life in infancy. The significance of the so-called vascular ring, long recognized as a cause of obstruction of the trachea and esophagus in early life, assumed new importance in 1945 when the operation by Gross¹placed this entity among the surgically correctable congenital lesions of the great vessels. Since that time, experience with the operative treatment of these anomalies has been accumulated.^2-4 In the normal 12-mm human embryo, the aortic trunk divides into a left and a right arch. These arches pass on either side of the trachea and esophagus and rejoin to form a single descending dorsal aorta. Normally, a process of absorption or resolution takes place in the right arch distal to the right subclavian, leaving the remaining portion of the right arch to become