Atherosclerotic aneurysm in the circumflex retroesophageal right aortic arch

A 63-year-old man had a distal arch aneurysm combined with a circumflex ret roesophageal right aortic arch, which is a rare form of vascular ring. By u sing combined median sternotomy and left thoracotomy under deep hypothermia and retrograde cerebral perfusion, total arch replacement with a vascular graft was successful. We describe our surgical strategy for arch aneurysm a ssociated with an uncommon congenital vascular malformation. (C) 2001 by Th e Society of Thoracic Surgeons.