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Case Reports
. 2025 Apr 2;30(7):103407.
doi: 10.1016/j.jaccas.2025.103407.

Anomalous Origin of Left Pulmonary Artery From the Descending Aorta Diagnosed in an Athletic Adult

Mariama Touray  1 , Guillaume Fahrni  2 , Tobias Rutz  3 , Judith Bouchardy  4 , Patrick Yerly  5 , Aisha Touray  2 , Magalie Ladouceur  4
Affiliations
Case Reports

Anomalous Origin of Left Pulmonary Artery From the Descending Aorta Diagnosed in an Athletic Adult

Mariama Touray et al. JACC Case Rep. .

Abstract

Background: Anomalous origin of the left pulmonary artery from the aorta, also named hemitruncus arteriosus, is a rare congenital heart disease associated with high mortality. Patients are usually operated on in the first months of life to avoid irreversible damage caused by pulmonary arterial hypertension.

Case summary: The authors present a challenging case of an athletic male patient with an anomalous left pulmonary artery originating from the descending aorta that was diagnosed when he was aged 27 years, with severe segmental pulmonary arterial hypertension in the left lung. Following multidisciplinary team meetings, conservative management was chosen.

Discussion: Multimodality imaging plays a key role in both diagnosing and managing this birth defect and its potential complications.

Take-home message: Management of this extremely rare congenital anomaly in the adult is yet to be fully understood and requires a multidisciplinary team in a tertiary center.

Keywords: anomalous origin of the left pulmonary artery (AOLPA); hemitruncus arteriosus; segmental pulmonary hypertension.

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Conflict of interest statement

Funding Support and Author Disclosures The authors have reported that they have no relationships relevant to the contents of this paper to disclose.

Figures

None
Graphical abstract
Visual Summary
Visual Summary
Anomalous Origin of the Left Pulmonary Artery in the Adult, Also Known as Hemitruncus Arteriosus
Figure 1
Figure 1
Computed Tomography Angiography (A) Scout view showing hypoplasia of the left lung and hyperinflation of the right lung. (B) Axial computed tomography angiography in the mediastinal window, from (A) top to (B) bottom, showing the right pulmonary artery (single black asterisk) and the pulmonary trunk (double black asterisk) and the left pulmonary artery (single white asterisk) from the descending thoracic aorta (double white asterisk). (C) (A) Axial and (B) coronal computed tomography angiography in the lung window showing hypoplasia of the left lung (single asterisk) and hyperinflation of the right lung (double asterisk).
Figure 2
Figure 2
Echocardiography Parasternal short-axis view showing the absence of the left pulmonary artery.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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