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Computed Tomographic Analysis of Aortic Arch Branching Patterns: Revisited

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Abstract

Branching pattern of aortic arch (AA) has a direct impact on the outcomes of thoracic surgical and angiographic procedures. Since, geographical variations in the branching pattern of AA have been described, this descriptive cross-sectional study describes the AA variations in a Sri Lankan population compared to the available global data. For that, contrast-enhanced computed tomographic studies (CTC) of thorax (n = 219) performed in males (49.3%) and females (50.7%), aged 59 ± 17 years (range: 4 to 96 years), were evaluated. Branching patterns of AA were categorized into seven types as described by Popieluszko et al. Only, four AA types were identified in the study population: type 1 (90%; n = 197), type 2 (n = 10, 4.6%), type 3 (n = 8, 3.7%), and type 6 AA (n = 4; 1.8%). The prevalence of AA variations was 10%. Type 1 AA was the most prevalent pattern in both genders: female, 91%; males, 88.9%. The most prevalent AA variant in females was type 2 (n = 6; 5.4%); males type 3 (n = 5; 4.6%). However, the branching pattern of AA has not demonstrated a significant gender influence (odds: 0.792; 95% CI: 0.327–1.917; p = 0.605). Variations in branching pattern of AA are as high as 10% among Sri Lankans. Thus, an in-depth knowledge on population specific prevalence of AA variants would influence the modifications of surgical approaches and the choice of angiographic catheters to be utilized, which in turn would minimize inadvertent vascular injuries during thoracic surgical and angiographic interventions.

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Data Availability

Data will be published in Mendeley.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Anatomy, Faculty of Medicine, University of Ruhuna, Galle, Sri Lanka

    Iroshani Kodikara & Isurani Ilayperuma

  2. Teaching Hospital, Rathnapura, Sri Lanka

    Dhanusha Gamage

  3. Teaching Hospital Karapitiya, Galle, Sri Lanka

    Sampath De Soyza

Authors
  1. Iroshani Kodikara
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  2. Dhanusha Gamage
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  3. Sampath De Soyza
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  4. Isurani Ilayperuma
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Contributions

I Kodikara: Project development, data management, data analysis, manuscript writing and editing.

D Gamage: study design, data collection, data analysis.

S de Soyza: data collection, manuscript editing.

I Ilayperuma: project supervision, manuscript editing.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Iroshani Kodikara.

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Ethical approval for the study was obtained from the Ethical Review Committee of Kotelawala Defense University of Sri Lanka (RP/2018/13).

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Not applicable in this retrospective study.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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This article is part of the Topical Collection on Imaging

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Kodikara, I., Gamage, D., De Soyza, S. et al. Computed Tomographic Analysis of Aortic Arch Branching Patterns: Revisited. SN Compr. Clin. Med. 4, 17 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42399-021-01112-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s42399-021-01112-x

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