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.
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.... coarctation of the aorta
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