Abstract
A case is reported of a man 21 years old with coarctation of the aorta and multiple congenital aortic arch abnormalities. A congenital anomaly of the left subclavian artery caused retrograde filling of the left subclavian artery from the left vertebral artery, the so-called "sub-clavian-steal" pattern of blood flow. Three similar cases and one variant of this rare congenital pattern of blood flow have been previously reported. The mechanism of blood flow in these cases is discussed, and the possibility of creating the situation in a Blalock-Taussig shunt operation is mentioned.