[An adult case of aortic coarctation associated with two thoracic aneurysms]

A 57-year-old woman in whom an abnormality was detected on the chest X-ray presented with no signs or symptoms other than hypertension. Several examinations revealed that she had aortic coarctation of the isthmus with two aneurysm in the arch. One aneurysm was located in the root of the left subclavian artery, another was just distal of the first aneurysm. For prevention of rupture of the aneurysms and treatment of hypertension, aortic arch reconstruction was performed with the aid of selective cerebral perfusion. The postoperative course was uneventful and she was discharged 19 days after the operation with normalization of her blood pressure. At the operation in this case, the combination of the two approaches, median sternotomy and left 4th thoracotomy, was useful.