Complete interruption of the aortic arch in infancy.

COMPLETE interruption of the aortic arch is a rare congenital malformation which was first described in the 18th century by Steidele.1 In 1962 Roberts, Morrow and Braunwald2 pub¬ lished a clinical review of 52 cases from the literature and added three from their own ex¬ perience. In 1965 Moller and Edwards3 reported 10 patients along with 95 cases already pub¬ lished. Other authors have sporadically reported personal cases.416 Interruption of the aortic arch is a discontinuity between the horizontal and descending segments of the arch. Celoria and Patton4 described three types of lesion according to the site of the interruption (Fig. 1). Type A: The interruption is situated below the left subclavian artery. The ductus arteriosus joins the pulmonary artery and the descending aorta.