Aortic arch branching pattern variation: its incidence on a 20.030 cases review.

Aim of the study: the main objective of this work was to study the frequency of variation of the aortic arch branching pattern in a wide and varied population. Introduction: Variations in the branching pattern of the aortic arch are clinically relevant because of the direct influence that their presence can have on the success of cardio-vascular procedures, neck or thorax surgery, in trauma management or in intensive care unit patient’s. In most cases these anatomical variations are asymptomatic and considered clinically benign, but some particular aortic branching patterns had been associated with surgical complications or with vascular diseases in medical non surgical patients. Methods: this paper analyzes the aortic arch branching patterns of 20.030 cases reported by 40 anatomical or radiological studies. Results: 84,52% of the studied population has a three branches pattern and 14,65% has a two branches pattern. The four primary arteries arising directly from the aortic arch were seen in 0,81% of the cases and only 0,02% had them all arising from a common trunk.