A Method of Enlarging the Distal Transverse Arch in Infants with Hypoplasia and Coarctation of the Aorta

Immediate operation in infants suffering from severe congestive heart failure and coarctation of the aorta associated with hypoplasia of the distal transverse aortic arch often poses a difficult technical problem. Frequently the anastomosis between the hypoplastic arch and the descending thoracic aorta fails to relieve the gradient across the hypoplastic segment appreciably. A technique of enlarging the lumen of the distal arch and thereby further lowering the gradient has been found effective and is presented.