[Interrupted aortic arch--report of two cases].

UNLABELLED: Interrupted aortic arch is a rare congenital heart malformation frequently associated with other extra or intracardiac congenital defects. These anomalies are divided into three types, depending on the site of aortic interruption. The diagnosis may be suspected clinically in patients with diminished femoral pulses and when the partial pressure and saturation of oxygen in the blood from arteries proximal to the interruption are higher than those from arteries distal to the interruption. The characters of heart murmurs are not of help in the diagnosis, which can be confirmed only by an ascending aortogram.

SURGICAL TREATMENT: A two-stage approach has been routinely used in newborns. This consists of initial repair of the aortic interruption with left subclavian arteries (type A) or with a prosthetic tube (type B, C) and concomitant closure of the proximal end of the ductus by ligation or suturing, to be followed by closure of the intracardiac defect at a later date. Correction of the interrupted aortic arch and intracardiac malformation in elder children can be done at one sitting.