[Tracheal compression by the innominate artery. Angiographic investigations (author's transl)].

Angiocardiograms in 11 infants without anatomical abnormalities of the heart and the great arteries were compared with angiocardiograms in 17 patients with tracheal compression caused by the innominate artery. The direction of the left ventricular outlet, the course of the aortic arch, the innominate artery and the right common carotid artery were studied with regard to the position of the trachea and the vertebral bodies. Course and origin of the innominate artery depends on the direction of the left ventricular outflow. The influence of haemodynamic factors in the formation of the aortic arch system is discussed. The innominate artery, which is arched in early infancy, straightens due to the descending heart and the growth of the infant. Its topographic relation to the trachea changes with age. In view of these developmental changes it is unlikely, that an aberrant origin of the innominate artery accounts for the tracheal compression.