An unusual and rare form of truncus arteriosus in an asymptomatic woman

Abstract

Persistent truncus arteriosus is a rare congenital cardiac malformation. It is characterized by a single great artery arising from the heart which supplies the aorta, the origin of coronary arteries and pulmonary arteries. Without surgery, prognosis is poor and 90% of these patients die before one year of age. We report a rare case of an asymptomatic 35-year-old woman with uncorrected persistent truncus arteriosus and hypoplastic right and left pulmonary arteries. Hypoplastic branch pulmonary arteries prevented the development of severe pulmonary arterial hypertension.