Native atretic coarctation of the aorta in a 37-year-old hypertensive woman, treated with a low-profile covered stent

We report on a 37-year-old woman with essential systemic hypertension. An MRI was performed because of weak femoral pulses, depicting a severe almost atretic coarctation of the aorta (Fig. 1). Angiography of the proximal distal thoracic aorta was simultaneously performed (Fig. 2a). The transverse arch was narrow (16 mm), as was the diameter of the terminal aortic arch distal to the left subclavian artery (10 mm). Distal of the coarctation the diameter of the descending aorta was 11 mm. A trajectory of 2 mm in length seemed atretic. The atretic segment could be crossed in an antegrade fashion with a straight 0,014 in. coronary wire and balloon predilatation was performed with a 5 mm coronary balloon. Thereafter, a multi-purpose catheter could be advanced retrogradely across the coarctation segment. A 9 French