Congenital Heart Disease

Aortic Coarctation

Signs and Symptoms
Diagnosis
Treatment

Signs and Symptoms

Aortic coarctation is a narrowing of part of the aorta, the artery that sends oxygenated blood from the heart to the rest of the body. Many coarcations may not produce symptoms until later in life. However, some defects are so severe that babies born with them will need immediate treatment.

When the aorta is too narrow, it restricts blood flow to the lower part of the body and increases blood pressure above the narrowing. This means the heart has to work harder to circulate blood to the rest of the body. The left ventricle may become swollen and weak due to the strain, resulting in congestive heart failure, when one or more chambers of the heart "fail" to keep up with the volume of blood flowing through them. One of the symptoms of congestive heart failure is breathlessness. Children born with aortic coarctation often have other heart abnormalities such as deformed aortic valves, patent ductus arteriosus or ventricular septal defect.

High blood pressure above the narrowing also can result in high blood pressure in the arteries that branch out from the aorta, including those in the arms and brain. This may increase the risk for a stroke.

Below the narrowing, the blood pressure may be too low, resulting in problems in feeding enough blood into organs such as the kidneys.

Last reviewed in March 2003 by health care specialists at UCSF Children's Hospital.