Subarachnoid haemorrhage; coarctation of the aorta and successful aortic homograft.

Morgagni was thought first to have described the condition of coarctation of the aorta in 1760. Crafoord and Nylin (I945) discussed the surgical treatment of coarctation, describing two male patients, aged I2 and 27 years, in whom successful surgery had been performed. Surgical treatment was also described by Kirklin et al. (I952), in an infant ten weeks old and at the other end of the scale, Gross (I949), described a successful operation in a man aged 41. Brock et al. (1953), in a discussion on the use of aortic homografts mentioned the work of Alexis Carrel on the preservation of homografts by refrigeration as early as 19I2. Lichtenberg and Gallagher (I933) described what was then stated to be the only case of coarctation associated with intermittent leakage of a cerebral aneurysm diagnosed during life in a girl, aged 12, still living 18 months after the cerebral accident. While it is now a well-known fact that coarctation of the aorta and intracranial vascular accidents are commonly associated, the clinical picture of coarctation, subarachnoid haemorrhage and successful aortic homograft in a patient, is considered sufficiently rare to warrant the following case report:-