Beware of arteria lusoria during lymph node dissection of the right paratracheal fossa for lung cancer surgery.

An asymptomatic elderly woman presented with a solitary right upper lobe mass revealed to be non-small cell lung cancer following routine surveillance post mastectomy. Upon review of CT with contrast in preparation for rigid bronchoscopy and right upper lobectomy, we noticed that the patient had a rare case of arteria lusoria. This is the presence of an aberrant right subclavian artery extending from the left side of the aortic arch, crossing posteriorly across the midline to supply the upper limb. We suggest that with a documented 100% diagnostic sensitivity on 64 multislice computed tomography, the presence of arteria lusoria within the posterior paratracheal fossa may cause life-threatening complications in the unaware during systematic lymph node dissection for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).