Axillary artery counter-current aortography in the newborn with aortic arch obstruction

13 newborn infants with aortic coarctation were evaluated by counter-current aortographic technique. The right radial or brachial artery approach (2 cases in each group) did not give successful aortic arch imaging while the right axillary artery approach resulted in adequate imaging in each of 9 cases investigated. In 2, the axillary artery was transiently weakened but returned to normal within 24 h. No other complications were encountered. Axillary artery counter-current aortography is a safe and relatively non-invasive procedure which can be used to image the aortic arch in the newborn babies when other non-invasive diagnosis of aortic arch obstruction is tentative.