Concomitant axial cineangiography and barium esophagography in the evaluation of vascular rings

Abstract

Six vascular rings were evaluated using axial biplane cineangiography and concomitant barium esophagography. Three patients had a double aortic arch, two had a right aortic arch and aberrant left subclavian artery with a foreshortened left ligamentum arteriosum, and one had a pulmonary vascular sling. Barium was administered in the esophagus of the anesthetized patient followed by cineangiography. Five patients were evaluated using both the standard and four-chamber projection, while the sixth patient with the pulmonary sling was evaluated in the standard and sitting projection. With the four-chamber view, vascular rings were exposed and atypical features such as a small right aortic arch component and branch stenoses of the brachiocephalic arteries were revealed. Axial views with an esophagogram allow easier morphologic analysis and more precise definition of the vascular abnormality than conventional views.