Abstract
The mediastinal structures on chest CT which include the thyroid gland, lymph nodes, heart, great vessels, and esophagus should be viewed on mediastinal window settings (Level 40, Window 400). I recommend reviewing each organ individually as you scroll up and down through the organ.
Three vessels typically originate from the arch of the aorta: from right to left, the right brachiocephalic artery, the left carotid artery, and the left subclavian artery. Common variants of the arch of the aorta are a bovine aortic arch where the right brachiocephalic artery and the left carotid have a common origin [Layton et al., AJNR Am J Neuroradiol. 27:1541–1542, 2006]. Also the vertebral artery may have a separate origin directly from the arch [Einstein et al., AORTA J. 4:64–67, 2016]. A less common variant is an aberrant right subclavian artery which must travel behind the trachea and esophagus to go from the left to right side [Donnelly et al., AJR Am J Roentgenol. 178:1269–1274, 2002].
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Salvatore, M.M., Go, R.C., Pernia M., M.A. (2018). The Mediastinum and Pleural. In: Chest CT for Non-Radiologists. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-89710-3_6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-89710-3_6
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