Description:
Aortic coarctation is a congenital narrowing of part of the aorta, most commonly the aortic arch, usually close to the origin of the left subclavian artery.
Balloon angioplasty of aortic coarctation is a minimally invasive procedure which involves inserting a catheter into a large blood vessel, usually in the groin, and passing it up to the area of narrowing under X-ray control. A balloon is then inflated within the narrowing. A stent (a small tube) may be placed within the narrowing to keep it dilated. Balloon angioplasty and stenting may be carried out as a first treatment (in 'native' coarctation) or if previous surgical or angioplastic treatment fails and coarctation recurs ('recoarctation').
The standard treatment for native and recurrent coarctation involves open chest surgery.
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