Anomalous origin of bilateral vertebral arteries associated with an aberrant right subclavian artery and a common carotid trunk: Case report

Abstract

Variations in the origin and the course of the vertebral arteries are uncommon and regarded as a congenital anomaly occurring in the early stages of embryonic development. These variations of the vertebral arteries occur mostly on one side and usually on the left. The most frequent variant is a left vertebral artery arising directly from the aortic arch between the left common carotid and the left subclavian arteries. However, an anomalous origin of the the right vertebral artery is much rarer and detected as an incidental finding at surgery or autopsy. Anomalous origins of both vertebral arteries are exceedingly rare. There are only a few case reports in the radiology literature that discuss the conventional angiographic findings of this rare anomaly. Knowledge of the variations in the aortic arch branching pattern is important prior to endovascular interventional procedures or vascular surgery in the neck region. In this report, we present multi detector computed tomographic angiography findings of an extremely rare combination of anomalies of the aortic arch consisting of an aberrant right subclavian artery; a common origin of both common carotid arteries with a right vertebral artery originating from the right common carotid artery and a left vertebral artery originating from the aortic arch between the common carotid trunk and left subclavian artery. © 2010 by Türkiye Klinikleri.