History
Presentation of symptoms in patients with double aortic arch depends on several factors, including the severity of tracheal compression, esophageal compression, or both and whether associated anomalies are present. Note the following:
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Among patients with a vascular ring, those with double aortic arch tend to present earlier than those with other anatomic variations. The classic history in a patient with double aortic arch is noisy breathing noted by the parents during the first few weeks of life.
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Young patients may have experienced episodes that often are termed apparent life-threatening events (ALTE) or death spells, in which acute apneic or severe obstructive events are accompanied by cyanosis. Patients with less severe tracheal compression may give a history of persistent respiratory symptoms without frank stridor, often treated as asthma or bronchiolitis, or a history of recurrent lower respiratory infections. [6]
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Esophageal symptoms include emesis, choking, or dysphagia and are more common in older infants and children than in young infants.
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Occasionally, patients may reach older childhood or adulthood before developing persistent or progressive symptoms of dysphagia, respiratory symptoms, or both.
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Rarely, fetal echocardiography may reveal double aortic arch and types of vascular ring.
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In neonates with associated cardiac or noncardiac anomalies, a double aortic arch may be diagnosed incidentally during the course of evaluation.
Physical Examination
Physical findings can vary, often in accordance with the patient's history.
Newborns with associated anomalies may have no evidence of a vascular ring on physical examination, but this situation is the exception because most patients have readily recognizable physical signs.
The classic sign of double aortic arch and of vascular rings in general is nonpositional stridor; however, many young infants with double aortic arch have adventitious expiratory breath sounds, as well as the characteristic inspiratory stridor. Respiratory findings typically do not improve with nebulized bronchodilator therapy and usually are more prominent with agitation or crying.
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Double Aortic Arch. Schematic diagram (left) of the primitive pharyngeal arch system shows the left (L) and right (R) external carotid (EC) and internal carotid (IC) arteries, fourth (IV) and sixth (VI) pharyngeal arches, distal pulmonary arterial segments (PA), dorsal aortas (DA), and seventh intersegmental arteries (VII). The proximal (p) sixth arches develop into the proximal pulmonary arteries and the distal (d) sixth arches become the arterial ducts. The seventh intersegmental arteries develop into the subclavian arteries. Schematic diagram (right) shows the segments of the pharyngeal arch system that regress (shown in black) in the normal formation of the thoracic great arteries. Left pulmonary artery (LPA); ductus arteriosus (PDA); right pulmonary artery (RPA); subclavian artery (SCA).
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Double Aortic Arch. Schematic diagram (left) depicts the segments of the pharyngeal arch system that regress (shown in black) so that the mature vascular anatomy of a double aortic arch can develop. The dominant and minor arches can vary in laterality and specific patterns of branching and segmental hypoplasia/atresia. (These variables are not specified in this diagram.) Left (L) and right (R) external carotid (EC) and internal carotid (IC) arteries; fourth (IV) and sixth (VI) pharyngeal arches; distal pulmonary arterial segments (PA); dorsal aortas (DA); seventh intersegmental arteries (VII); proximal (p) sixth arches; distal (d) sixth arches. Mature anatomy (right) of a double aortic arch with a dominant right arch and patent minor left arch. In most patients, a single left-sided ductus arteriosus or ligamentum arteriosum is present. Left pulmonary artery (LPA); ductus arteriosus (PDA); right pulmonary artery (RPA); subclavian artery (SCA).
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Double Aortic Arch. Transverse MRI images in a patient with double aortic arch. Both arches are patent; the right arch is dominant. Images A-F are arranged in a caudad to cephalad order. (A) Transverse image at the level of the pulmonary valve. The ascending aorta (AAo) and descending aorta (DAo), cephalad to the junction of the left and right arches, can be seen. (B) At the level of the pulmonary artery (PA) bifurcation, the distal confluence of the left and right arches forming the single descending aorta is depicted. (C) The distal portions of the left (L) and right (R) arches can be seen posterior and to the left and right sides of the trachea. Note the anteroposterior compression of the tracheal carina (anterior to and between the arches). (D) Moving cephalad, the dominance of the right arch can be seen. (E) At the level of the proximal/transverse aortic arches, the origin of the left and right arches from the rightward ascending aorta can be seen. (F) The left and right common carotid and subclavian arteries arise from the left and right arches, respectively. The common carotid arteries are the dark round structures anterior to and to either side of the trachea. The subclavian arteries are the dark round structures posterior to and to either side of the trachea.
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Double Aortic Arch. Coronal spin-echo MRI images in a patient with a double aortic arch. Both arches are patent, with the right (R) slightly larger in caliber than the left (L). Compression of the trachea (T) between the two arches can be seen (left). The confluence of the arches and the descending aorta (D) are shown (right).
