[Aortic origin of the right pulmonary artery. Review and report of two cases (author's transl)].

Two cases of aortic origin of the right pulmonary artery are reported. This is a congenital heart disease with every low incidence. To our knowledge only 62 cases have been previously reported. Patent ductus arteriosus is the usual associated anomaly. The first of our cases is associated with patent ductus arteriosus and pulmonary hypertension with severe pulmonary vascular bed changes; surgical closure was considered unadvisable. Aortic-pulmonic window is associated in the second case; cardiac surgery was carried out and the patient died posoperatively. The previously reported cases are reviewed and are compared with anatomic, physiopathologic, clinical, angiohemodiamic and therapeutic features of our cases. Congestive heart failure and inespecific left-to-right shunt clinical features were present early in life, mostly in the first month. Anatomic and funtional evaluation is only possible by cardiac catheterization and angiocardiography, because pulmonary hypertension appears at a very early stage and once fixed makes surgical treatment unadvisable.