CTICasesRetroaortic (Circumaortic) Left Brachiocephalic Vein
Imaging findings
Contrast-enhanced CT shows the left brachiocephalic (innominate) vein failing to cross the midline in its usual course to join the right brachiocephalic vein; instead it dips inferiorly, passing beneath the aortic arch before draining into the venous system on the other side, with a small amount of reflux of contrast into the anomalous limb.
Key takeaways
A left brachiocephalic vein that courses beneath rather than anterior to the aortic arch represents a retroaortic (circumaortic) left brachiocephalic vein, a recognized congenital venous variant that can occasionally be associated with tetralogy of Fallot and other congenital anomalies and should not be mistaken for a pathologic vascular process.
AI-assisted summary — may contain errors. Verify against the source video. Learn more
More from this webinar
- Pigtail Catheter Malpositioned Through the Spleen into a Peripancreatic AbscessIatrogenic
- Computer-Aided Detection (CAD) Miss of a Right Upper Lobe Lung CancerNeoplastic
- Massive Endovascular Metastases from Renal Cell CarcinomaNeoplastic
- Severe Pulmonary Lymphangitic Carcinomatosis from Gastric CancerNeoplastic
- Disseminated Mycobacterium africanum Infection with Bone and Soft-Tissue InvolvementInfection
- Fulminant Legionella pneumophila Pneumonia with Rapid Bilateral ProgressionInfection
- Legionella pneumophila Round Pneumonia Mimicking Fungal Infection After Bone Marrow TransplantInfection
- Right Lower Lobe Nodule with Equivocal Fat Attenuation Mimicking HamartomaNeoplastic
See all cases from June 7, 2018 →
Related Congenital cases
- Tracheobronchomegaly (Mounier-Kuhn Syndrome)
- Outflow Tract Ventricular Septal Defect with Anomalous Pulmonary Artery Branch
- Congenital Heart Disease with Hypoplastic Aortic Arch and Diffuse Iliac Artery Hypoplasia
- Patent Ductus Arteriosus Communicating with the False Lumen in a Type B Aortic Dissection
- Recurrent Infected Intralobar Pulmonary Sequestration
- Second Incidentally Discovered Patent Ductus Arteriosus in a Type B Aortic Dissection