The term unfolded aorta refers to the widened and decreased curvature of the aortic arch on a frontal chest radiograph giving an ‘opened up’ appearance. It is one of the more common causes of apparent mediastinal widening and is seen with increasing age, usually associated with aortic calcification.
It occurs due to the discrepancy in the growth of the ascending aorta with age, where the length of the ascending aorta increases out of proportion with diameter, causing the plane of the arch to swivel.
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