Common origin for the innominate and left common carotid arteries: A pattern of human aortic branching epicted on multidetector CT

Abstract

Most anomalies of the aortic arch arise due to the persistence of its parts that normally disappear, or due to the disapperance of parts that normally persist. We report a variant of aortic arch branching found on chest computerized tomography in a 75-year old Serbian man who had recurrent hemoptysis and an abnormal chest radiograph representing marked widening of the right superior mediastinum. Computerized tomography revealed a shared origin of the innominate and left common carotid arteries was found. This finding excluded tumor or pulmonary embolism as a cause of hemoptysis. The reason for hempotysis was anticoagulant therapy which patient had been receiving because of cardiovascula disease. We discuss the relative literature and underline the clinical impact of such a variation.