A double aortic arch with a deformed trachea accompanied by a subaortic left innominate vein

During our dissection of a Japanese elderly female cadaver, a double aortic arch with a deformed trachea was found in the cadaver. The ascending aorta was bifurcated to form the left (anterior) and right (posterior) aortic arches. Encircling and compressing the trachea and esophagus, they confluenced into the descending aorta. We concluded that it was a case of the double aortic arch forming a vascular ring. In the vascular ring the trachea was deformed. In addition, the left innominate vein coursed under the aortic arches (subaortic left innominate vein, SLIV) and crossed the mediastinum posterior to the ascending aorta and anterior to the trachea.