“Unkinking” the “Kink” Normalizes the Doppler Pattern

TL;DR

This paper presents a case where aortic coarctation was diagnosed using echocardiography and resolved after stenting.

Contribution

The study highlights the normalization of Doppler patterns after percutaneous stenting in a CoA case.

Findings

Echocardiography identified a continuous murmur and Doppler pattern consistent with CoA.

Percutaneous stenting led to normalization of the Doppler pattern soon after the procedure.

Abstract

Coarctation of the aorta (CoA) comprises 5–7% of congenital heart disease and can present as an isolated narrowing in the aortic arch just distal to the left subclavian artery or can be associated with cardiac abnormalities such as a bicuspid aortic valve, aortopathy, or ventricular septal defects. With the advances in the medical field, intervention on CoA can either be via surgical repair or endovascular stenting. Echocardiography is the mainstay in diagnosing CoA, with tomographic imaging such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) or computed tomography providing supplementary assessment of the aorta, valves, and collateral vessels. We present a case of a young hypertensive male who was noted to have a continuous cardiac murmur with diagnostic Doppler pattern of CoA on echocardiography that normalized soon after percutaneous stenting.

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