Coarctation of the aorta Health Dictionary

  1. Health Encyclopedia
  2. Coarctation Of The Aorta

Coarctation Of The Aorta: From 2 Different Sources

A congenital heart defect of unknown cause, in which there is narrowing in a section of the aorta that supplies blood to the lower body and legs. In response, the heart has to work harder, causing hypertension in the upper part of the body.

Symptoms usually appear in early childhood and include headache, weakness after exercise, cold legs, and, rarely, breathing difficulty and swelling of the legs due to heart failure. Associated abnormalities include a heart murmur, weak or absent pulse in the groin, lack of synchronization between groin and wrist pulses, and higher blood pressure in the arms than in the legs. X-rays confirm the diagnosis. Corrective surgery is usually performed at 4–8 years of age.

Health Source: BMA Medical Dictionary
Author: The British Medical Association
A narrowing of the AORTA in the vicinity of the insertion of the ductus arteriosus. It is a congenital abnormality but may not be discovered until well into childhood or adolescence. The diagnosis is easily made by discovering a major di?erence between the blood pressure in the arms and that of the legs. If untreated it leads to hypertension and heart failure, but satisfactory results are now obtained from surgical treatment, preferably in infancy. Paediatricians screen for coarctation by feeling for femoral pulses, which are absent or weak in this condition.
Health Source: Medical Dictionary
Author: Health Dictionary

Aorta

The large vessel which opens out of the left ventricle of the HEART and carries blood to all of the body. It is about 45 cm (1••• feet) long and 2·5 cm (1 inch) wide. Like other arteries it possesses three coats, of which the middle one is much the thickest. This consists partly of muscle ?bre, but is mainly composed of an elastic substance called elastin. The aorta passes ?rst to the right, and lies nearest the surface behind the end of the second right rib-cartilage; then it curves backwards and to the left, passes down behind the left lung close to the backbone, and through an opening in the diaphragm into the abdomen. There it divides, at the level of the navel, into the two common iliac arteries, which carry blood to the lower limbs.

Its branches, in order, are: two coronary arteries to the heart wall; the brachiocephalic, left common carotid, and left subclavian arteries to the head, neck and upper limbs; several small branches to the oesophagus, bronchi, and other organs of the chest; nine pairs of intercostal arteries which run around the body between the ribs; one pair of subcostal arteries which is in series with the intercostal arteries; four (or ?ve) lumbar arteries to the muscles of the loins; coeliac trunk to the stomach, liver and pancreas; two mesenteric arteries to the bowels; and suprarenal, renal and testicular arteries to the suprarenal body, kidney, and testicle on each side. From the termination of the aorta rises a small branch, the median sacral artery, which runs down into the pelvis. In the female the ovarian arteries replace the testicular.

The chief diseases of the aorta are ATHEROMA

and ANEURYSM. (See ARTERIES, DISEASES OF; COARCTATION OF THE AORTA.)... aorta

Coarctation

n. (of the aorta) a congenital narrowing of a short segment of the aorta. The most common site of coarctation is just beyond the origin of the left subclavian artery from the aorta. This results in high blood pressure (*hypertension) in the upper part of the body and arms and low blood pressure in the legs. The defect is corrected by surgery or *stent implantation.... coarctation

Health encyclopedia icon Health Encyclopedia

Recent Searches