Case report of critical aortic coarctation

Abstract

Aortic coarctation is a potentially critical congenital heart disease, in which there is a narrowing of the lumen of the descending aorta. This condition causes, depending on its severity, inadequate blood flow to the systemic circulation so that, on certain occasions, the flow to the portions irrigated by the descending aorta is determined by the presence of the ductus arteriosus. The aim of this article is to describe the clinical presentation of a newborn with a diagnosis of critical aortic coarctation from the current medical position. For this purpose, the clinical case of a patient treated in the perinatal intensive care unit of the Fe del Valle Ramos Hospital in Manzanillo, Granma, was presented. The clinical, echographic and electrical diagnosis of a critical heart disease was made in secondary health care and his subsequent optimal referral to the William Soler Pediatric Cardiocenter in Havana, where corrective surgery was performed to restore cardiovascular functionality. For discussion, a review of the literature was carried out using search engines, meta-search engines and databases (Google Scholar, PubMed, Science Direct and Scopus). The relevance and novelty of approaches in the diagnostic and therapeutic approach to aortic coarctation as a sufficiently developed area in the knowledge of medical sciences is confirmed from a literature review based on an information search strategy.