Coarctation of the abdominal aorta

Four patients with suprarenal coarctation of the abdominal aorta were managed from 1978 to 1993 (mean follow-up 8.75 years). Ages at the time of diagnosis were 2 months, 8 months, 4.5 years, and 15 years, respectively. Three children presented with severe hypertension, two of whom were in congestive heart failure, and the fourth child presented with a cold, ischemic leg. The 8-month-old patient had Williams syndrome (supravalvular aortic and pulmonic stenosis, bilateral renal artery stenosis and celiac artery occlusion, "elfin" facies, and mental retardation) and was treated nonoperatively. After 12 years of follow-up, he was given five medications to control hypertension, cardiac arrhythmias, and heart failure. Three patients with abdominal aortic coarctation were treated operatively and none died. Two patients underwent bypass grafting from the supraceliac aorta to the infrarenal aorta, with bilateral renal artery reconstruction in one. Postoperative arteriograms obtained 1 year or more after operation were normal in both cases. The 2-month-old patient underwent patch aortoplasty, with subsequent reoperation 1.5 years later for recurrent hypertension and heart failure with a bypass graft to the left kidney and removal of an infarcted right kidney. In all three patients, operative repair of the suprarenal aortic coarctation has resulted in long-term control of blood pressure and cardiac and renal function.