By Ryan Halas, DO; Christopher Schmehil, MD; Devika Malhotra, MD; Ming-Sing Si, MD; Robin Fountain, MD
Introduction
Anomalous origin of one pulmonary artery from the ascending aorta (AOPA), also known as hemitruncus, is an extremely rare congenital heart malformation first described in 1868.1 This defect manifests with early pulmonary hypertension by two unique mechanisms: 1. one lung receiving an obligate entire cardiac output from the right ventricle and 2. systemic pressure driving systemic arterial blood into the lung with the anomalous origin of the branch pulmonary artery.2
To read the full article, please go to the December 2016 Issue of CCT, where it was originally published.