Images in Clinical Medicine
Aberrant Right Subclavian Artery and Dysphagia Lusoria
N Engl J Med 2002; 346:1637May 23, 2002
- Article
Figure 1 A 45-year-old woman had had intermittent dysphagia for two years. Physical examination revealed a blood pressure of 104/72 mm Hg in the right arm and 120/80 mm Hg in the left. A barium swallow revealed an aberrant right subclavian artery indenting the upper esophagus (arrow in Panel A). The results of an esophageal-motility study were normal. Computed tomography of the chest showed the collapsed esophagus confined between the trachea to the right, the carotid arteries anteriorly, and the aberrant right subclavian artery posteriorly (arrow in Panel B). Angiography showed a common origin of the carotid arteries (truncus bicaroticus) from the aortic arch and the aberrant right subclavian artery (arrow in Panel C). There were no stenotic lesions or aneurysms. Since the patient's symptoms were mild and intermittent, she deferred surgical correction.
The clinical syndrome of dysphagia in association with the aberrant right subclavian artery was first described by Bayford in 1794 as lusus naturae, meaning a freak or jest of nature.
Peter D. Kent, M.D.
Thomas H. Poterucha, M.D.
Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN 55905- Citing Articles (4)
Citing Articles
1
Janine Pettiford, Jeremy Erasmus, Elizabeth G. Grubbs, Nancy D. Perrier. (2010) Dysphagia lucoria: Consideration for the endocrine surgeon. Surgery 147:6, 890-892
CrossRef2
C. Werner, R. Rbah, M. Böhm. (2006) Cardiovascular dysphagia. Clinical Research in Cardiology 95:1, 54-56
CrossRef3
Rabih Chaoui, Kai-Sven Heling, Nanette Sarioglu, Michael Schwabe, Anja Dankof, Rainer Bollmann. (2005) Aberrant right subclavian artery as a new cardiac sign in second- and third-trimester fetuses with Down syndrome. American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology 192:1, 257-263
CrossRef4
(2002) Aberrant Right Subclavian Artery and Dysphagia Lusoria. New England Journal of Medicine 347:19, 1532-1532
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