Coarctation of the aorta and pregnancy

A case of coarctation of the aorta in a pregnant patient is reported. The coarctation was surgically corrected during the eighteenth week of pregnancy, with a subsequently uncomplicated pregnancy and delivery. This is the tenth patient described in whom resection of the coarctation was accomplished during pregnancy. The subject of coarctation of the aorta associated with pregnancy is reviewed. The incidence of cardiovascular complications is about 20 per cent. Since there is no way of predicting which patients will develop cardiovascular difficulty, we think that surgical correction of the coarctation should be accomplished during the antepartum period.