Variations in the branching pattern of aortic arch in human fetal heart: A Morphological Study

Anatomical variations in the branching pattern of arch of aorta are significant for diagnostic, surgical, and interventional procedures of the thorax and neck, and failure to recognize these patterns may have fatal outcome. Hence the present study aims to determine the percentage and type of aortic arch variations.

This cross-sectional study was conducted on 30 formalin-fixed stillborn human fetuses of 35 weeks gestational age and above, in the Department of Anatomy, RIMS, Imphal, Manipur from 2018 to 2020. stillborn human fetuses were collected from the Obstetrics and Gynecology Department of RIMS, Imphal, Manipur, after taking due consent from parent. Fetus with gross abnormality and weighing less than 2.5 kg were excluded. whereas above 2.5 kg weight fetuses were included. The variations in the branching pattern of aortic arch were observed, noted and photographed. The variations were according to the classification by vicurevic et al., 2012.

The classical pattern of three branches of the arch of aorta were seen in 23 (76.66%) cases in the present study. In the remaining 7 (23.33%) cases, two different types of variations were observed with four and two branches arising in five and two cases respectively.

Knowledge of normal anatomy and frequency in the variations in the branching pattern of the arch of aorta in the present study can be of significance for clinicians.