Background Bicuspid aortic valve (BAV) is a congenital abnormality that is often associated with aortic coarctation. Evidence suggests this combination may increase the risk of secondary aortic complications compared to patients with BAV alone.[1] Altered aortic hemodynamics likely induce vascular remodeling[2] and may contribute to these complications. No study has investigated the impact of a...

over the last 50 years, significant progress has been made in the surgical repair of thoracoabdominal aortic aneurysms (taaa).   improvements in perioperative care and surgical techniques have resulted in reductions in complication and mortality rates. adjunctive use of distal aortic perfusion and cerebrospinal fluid drainage has been especially helpful, reducing the incidence of neurological d...

Abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAA) are the thirteenth cause of death in the United States. The etiology of the disease is yet largely unknown, although several environmental risk factors (e.g., smoking) have been identified and the search for finding genetic risk factors has been initiated. The purpose of our study was to gain insight into the pathobiology of AAA by determining which genes are ex...

Methods Consecutive patients referred for cardiac MRI for repaired aortic coarctation, bicuspid aortic valve, or both were retrospectively reviewed. Patients with prior aortic valve or ascending aortic surgery were excluded, though prior coarctation intervention was not excluded. Maximum ascending aortic dimension was obtained, and averaged for patients with BAV alone, BAV and coarctation, or c...

Coarctation of the aorta, a cause of secondary hypertension, usually presents with asymmetric blood pressure of the upper and lower extremities. However, pseudocoarctation of the aorta does not have pressure gradient cross the stenotic area, so blood pressure is the same over four extremities. We describe a case of pseudocoarctation of the aorta, which presented unusually as a giant aortic arch...

Coarctation of the aorta is a common congenital defect, which although normally detected and surgically repaired in childhood may present in adolescence or adulthood, usually in the context of investigation for hypertension. The morphological spectrum of abnormalities range from a discrete stenosis distal to the left subclavian, often with extensive collateral formation, to a hypoplastic transv...