Left atrial dissection due to left ventricular rupture after mitral surgery]

An increase in the availability of advanced imaging modalities has led to improved recognition of cardiovascular anomalies. Computed tomography angiography (CTA) provides a non-invasive means of acquiring 3D images with a relatively short acquisition time thereby providing essential information in regards to patient anatomy and procedure planning. The dog in this report had a right aortic arch and abnormal branching with an aberrant left subclavian artery originating from the ampulla of a left patent ductus arteriosus (PDA) that was detected with CTA. The PDA was creating a volume overload to the left side of the heart as well as contributing to the vascular ring and compression of the esophagus. Therefore, ligation and transection instead of a minimally invasive catheter-based procedure was required. This aortic arch anomaly and surgical management have not been previously reported in dogs.