Congestive heart failure due to coral reef thoracoabdominal aorta

Acquired coarctation due to coral reefs is a rare and unique entity characterized by extensively calcified thrombus of the entire aorta. There are few reports of coral reef aorta resulting in severely congestive heart failure in the literature. We describe a 60-year-old female with acute heart failure. Computed tomography (CT)-scan and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) revealed that the cause of the heart failure was cardiac after-load mismatch due to serious stenosis of the aorta. In order to prevent cardio-respiratory failure, an axillofemoral bypass was performed to release the cardiac after-load mismatch. This diminished the pressure gradient between upper and lower blood pressure that caused cardiac dysfunction. (C) 2011 Published by European Association for Cardio-Thoracic Surgery. All rights reserved.