Natural History of Asymptomatic and Unrepaired Vascular Rings: Is Watchful Waiting a Viable Option? A New Case and Review of Previously Reported Cases
Department of Cardiology and Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin, 9000 Wisconsin Avenue, Milwaukee, WI 53226, USA
Academic Editor: Sari A. Acra
Children 2016, 3(4), 44; https://doi.org/10.3390/children3040044
Received: 9 November 2016
/
Revised: 13 December 2016
/
Accepted: 15 December 2016
/
Published: 21 December 2016
Vascular rings are a rare form of congenital heart disease in which abnormal aortic arch anatomy leads to encircling of the esophagus and/or trachea by the aortic vasculature. Symptoms can develop from this and prompt the need for surgery. A natural history study has been done on mildly symptomatic patients but no such study has been done on asymptomatic patients. We present a case report of three children with asymptomatic vascular rings who continue to receive follow-up without intervention and review all published cases of asymptomatic or unrepaired vascular rings. Clinical observation of asymptomatic and mildly symptomatic vascular rings, regardless of aortic arch anatomy, seems to be a safe approach. Children with mild symptoms almost invariably seem to have resolution of their symptoms by four years of age.
View Full-Text
Keywords:
vascular ring; right aortic arch; double aortic arch; asymptomatic; unrepaired; vascular anomaly
▼
Show Figures
Figure 1
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited
MDPI and ACS Style
Loomba, R.S. Natural History of Asymptomatic and Unrepaired Vascular Rings: Is Watchful Waiting a Viable Option? A New Case and Review of Previously Reported Cases. Children 2016, 3, 44. https://doi.org/10.3390/children3040044
AMA Style
Loomba RS. Natural History of Asymptomatic and Unrepaired Vascular Rings: Is Watchful Waiting a Viable Option? A New Case and Review of Previously Reported Cases. Children. 2016; 3(4):44. https://doi.org/10.3390/children3040044
Chicago/Turabian StyleLoomba, Rohit S. 2016. "Natural History of Asymptomatic and Unrepaired Vascular Rings: Is Watchful Waiting a Viable Option? A New Case and Review of Previously Reported Cases" Children 3, no. 4: 44. https://doi.org/10.3390/children3040044
Find Other Styles
Note that from the first issue of 2016, MDPI journals use article numbers instead of page numbers. See further details here.
