Biography
Biography: Marilyn J. Siegel
Abstract
Congenital vascular anomalies of the thorax represent an important group of entities that can occur either isolated or associated with different forms of congenital heart disease. From a clinical viewpoint, they can be totally silent, or because of associated cardiac anomalies or compression of the airway and esophagus result in cardiovascular, respiratory or feeding problems that result in morbidity and mortality. For patient management, it is extremely important that radiologists, surgeons and cardiologists have a clear understanding of these entities, their imaging characteristics and clinical relevance.
The imaging armamentarium available in the diagnosis of these diverse conditions is ample, and has evolved from such traditional methods as chest radiography and angiography to new modalities that include multidetector CT and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). These imaging modalities have added safety, speed and superb resolution in diagnosis and in the case of CT provide additional information about the airway and lung parenchyma resulting in a more comprehensive examination with greater anatomic coverage. The purpose of this lecture is to review the most important congenital thoracic vascular anomalies, their clinical presentation and imaging characteristics with an emphasis on MDCT and MRI.