Vascular ring

A vascular ring is a congenital defect in which there is an abnormal formation of the aorta and/or its surrounding blood vessels. The trachea and esophagus are completely encircled and sometimes compressed by a "ring" formed by these vessels, which can lead to breathing and digestive difficulties.^[1][2]

Most often this is because of persistence of the double aortic arch after the second month of fetal life.^{[citation needed]}