Abstract

The case of a young footballer with undiagnosed aortic coarctation is presented. After suffering a traumatic shock during a match the young man was rushed to a Cardiac unit where aortography revealed the shock to be due to the rupturing of his aortic isthmus. He underwent immediate surgery to repair the ruptured aortic arch and relieve the coarcation using the Vosschulte technique of isthmoplasty with a Dacron patch. There were no postoperative complications and the patient was discharged 12 days after operation. A dual physiopathological mechanism is hypothesised: coarctation-induced hypertension and the sports injury. The incidence of this pathology among athletes and others is discussed. Since, untreated, the condition is inevitably fatal, the need for a much better preventive system is underlined. Verf.-Referat