Esophageal Cancer Associated with Right Aortic Arch: A Case Study

Abstract

Right aortic arch is a rare congenital vascular anomaly, thus, the surgical resection of esophageal cancer in a patient with this anomaly is extremely uncommon. The surgical treatment of esophageal cancer was performed in a 73-year-old man with right aortic arch. An upper GI series and endoscopy revealed Type 2 esophageal cancer in the lower thoracic esophagus. Chest computed tomography revealed a right aortic arch with an aberrant subclavian artery and was classified as an aortic arch anomaly of Type IIIB according to the Edwards' classification. The middle and lower portions of the intrathoracic esophagus were resected through a left thoracoabdominal incision. Type IIIB is the most common form of right aortic arch. For surgical resection, a left thoracotomy was the most common method. It is difficult to adequately visualize the right recurrent laryngeal nerve through a left thoracotomy alone and an additional incision, i.e., a midline sternotomy, may be necessary.