Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
Answer
The computed tomography angiography (CTA) scan (Fig. 1) demonstrated an intramural haematoma (Fig. 1a, b, asterisk) running from an anomalously originating right subclavian artery (Fig. 1a, b, arrow) continuing to the left aortic arch and descending aorta. The aberrant right subclavian artery, also called lusorian artery or arteria lusoria, originated at the aortic isthmus beyond the left subclavian artery and passed between the oesophagus and the vertebral column (Fig. 1a, arrow). A 3D volume rendering of the CTA scan is presented as supplementary material.
First described by Hunauld in 1735 [1] and later on associated with dysphagia by Bayford in 1794 [2], the lusorian artery or aberrant right subclavian artery is the most common congenital anomaly of the aortic arch and its thoracic branches with an incidence of 0.4–2% [3], and is considered to be a remnant of the distal portion of the embryonic right aortic arch. When the origin of the lusorian artery is distended, this is called a Kommerell diverticulum [4].
Our patient was regarded having a Stanford type B-like aortic dissection and was treated conservatively with antihypertensive medication. During admission, he stayed haemodynamically stable and free of complications and was discharged. Eight months later, a follow-up CTA showed improvement of the intramural haematoma.
Conclusion: intramural haematoma of lusorian artery with ‘Kommerell diverticulum’.
References
Hunauld PM. Examen de quelques parties d’un singe. Hist Acad Roy Sci. 1735;2:516–23.
Bayford D. An account of a singular case of obstructed deglutition. Mem Med Soc Lond. 1794;2:275–86.
Jalaie H, Grommes J, Sailer A, et al. Treatment of symptomatic aberrant subclavian arteries. Eur J Vasc Endovasc Surg. 2014;48:521–6.
Kommerell B. Verlagerung des Ösophagus durch eine abnorm verlaufende Arteria subclavia dextra (Arteria lusoria). Fortschr Geb Roentgenstrahlen. 1936;54:590–5.
Acknowledgements
The authors thank Dennis Bosboom, radiologist at the Department of Radiology at Radboud University Medical Center Nijmegen, for his appreciation of CT images.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interest
R. Joustra, A.P.J. van Dijk, H.W.J. Meijburg and M. Boulaksil declare that they have no competing interests.
Caption Electronic Supplementary Material
3D volume rendering of computed tomography angiography scan performed on admission (see also Fig. 1)
Rights and permissions
Open Access This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made.
About this article
Cite this article
Joustra, R., van Dijk, A.P.J., Meijburg, H.W.J. et al. A freaky artery. Neth Heart J 26, 577–578 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12471-018-1189-y
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12471-018-1189-y