A 28-year-old man, with a history of CoA repair using Dacron patch aortoplasty at the age of 10 years, presented with shortness of breath and sudden, severe central chest pain that radiated across his chest and back. The patient had been lost to clinical follow-up over the last 15 years. He was conscious, hypotensive (90/60 mmHg on both arms), and in distress with tachycardia (120 BPM) and relatively weak pedal pulses with cold distal extremities. A chest X-ray (CXR) demonstrated the widening of the upper mediastinum (Figure ).\nHe underwent emergency CT angiography, which demonstrated extensive mediastinal hematoma and contrast leaking from a 4x12 cm complex pseudoaneurysm of the proximal thoracic descending aorta (Figure ).\nThe intimal disruption started about 2 cm distal to the origin of the left subclavian artery (LSCA), which was probably the site of the patch repair. The aortic diameter just prior to the disruption was 2.5 cm, and the normal distal thoracic aortic diameter was 2 cm. Of note, there was compression to the distal aorta by the pseudoaneurysm, leading to significant narrowing, which explained the weak distal pulses and cold extremities. After the heart-team discussion, the decision was made to proceed with transcatheter endograft implantation. The transcatheter approach was deemed more feasible and safer than a surgical one, especially in the presence of a good landing zone for endograft placement (away from the LSCA) (Figure ).\nThe patient was taken to cardiac catheterization laboratory and, under general anesthesia, we implanted a tapered (28 mm - 26 mm) x 150 mm Valiant Thoracic Stent Graft with the Captivia Delivery System (Medtronic Vascular, Santa Rosa, CA). The endograft was implanted successfully with complete exclusion of the pseudoaneurysm and excellent flow distally (Figure ).\nThe access site (right femoral artery) was secured successfully with two Perclose ProGlide™ devices (Abbott Laboratories, Abbott Park, IL). The patient did very well and was discharged home after three days. A follow-up CT angiography revealed a widely patent stent graft with no endoleaks.
A 48-year-old male patient underwent surgical correction of interrupted CoA at the age of 22 years using EABG from the LSCA to the descending aorta. He presented with shortness of breath. The patient was found to be hypertensive with a BP of 170/90 mmHg on both arms. The BP in the lower limbs was 125/85 mmHg with obvious brachiofemoral delay. The patient was taking amlodipine 10 mg and valsartan 160 mg, both once a day. The ECG revealed LV hypertrophy. His TTE revealed normal LV systolic function, with LV hypertrophy and impaired relaxation. A CT angiography revealed stenosis at the proximal anastomosis site of the EABG (Figure ).\nThe plan was to proceed with cardiac catheterization and stenting the proximal stenosis after measuring the gradient but the patient refused any kind of intervention. The patient was sent home after adding a third antihypertensive medication, which wass bisoprolol 5 mg once a day. After six months, the patient's symptoms improved and his BP was 145/80 mmHg. His repeated TTE revealed no major changes.