Surgical treatment of a persistent right aortic arch with concurrent patent ductus arteriosus in a 4‐month‐old German shepherd dog

Abstract

A 4-month-old intact female German shepherd dog was presented with a history of postprandial regurgitation, a palpably distended cervical oesophagus after eating, and poor weight gain despite a ravenous appetite. Computed tomography angiography, esophagoscopy and echocardiography identified a persistent right aortic arch with a concurrent patent ductus arteriosus (PDA) causing extraluminal oesophageal compression leading to marked segmental megaoesophagus. A heart murmur was not detectable. A left lateral thoracotomy was performed to ligate and transect the PDA without complication. The dog was discharged with mild aspiration pneumonia which resolved with antimicrobial therapy. Twelve months post-surgery the owners reported no regurgitation.

Persistent right aortic arch and aberrant left subclavian artery in a dog

“…The second scenario arises when only the distal segment of the right subclavian artery remains persistent, represented by the right cervical intersegmental artery (Vitums, 1962), Computed tomography is the most suitable exam to define the type of vascular anomaly and contributes to surgical planning (Kyles, 2012;Nucci et al, 2018;Regier et al, 2021). However, echocardiography is essential in diagnosing dogs' cardiac anomalies (Duguay et al, 2023).…”

“…Even without being performed on this animal, it is essential to emphasize that echocardiography can successfully diagnose cardiac anomalies in dogs (Duguay et al, 2023). In some cases, echocardiography may be more helpful in diagnosing heart disease than CT (Mei et al, 2019).…”