Coarctation of the aorta - Long-term prognosis limited even after successful repair

Despite effective repair long-term prognosis is limited in patients with coarctation of the aorta. Hypertension is the most common cause for longterm morbidity and mortality. To minimize vascular damage coarctation repair should be performed in young children. In adults and increasingly in children balloonangioplasty is getting the therapy of choice. independently of the age ail patients need continous long-term follow-up after coarctation repair to obtain hypertension, recoarctation, aneurysms and associated valvular defects improvement of long-term outcome of patients with coarctation can only be achieved with optimized therapy of associated cardiovascular disease and especially of arterial hypertension (including isolated exercise-induced hypertension).