Coarctation of Aorta Presenting as Cardiac Failure in Early Infancy

Of ten cases of cardiac failure in the neonatal period or early infancy from the Thames valley areas served by the Royal Berkshire Hospital, Reading, and the Canadian Hospital, Taplow, and seen by one of us (J. J. K.) during the last three years, four have been cases of coarctation of the aorta. Each, after a period of medical treatment, was transferred to the Hospital for Sick Children, Great Ormond Street, where resection (D. J. W.) was carried out. This paper is an account of the four cases, with a discussion of the problems and the possibilities of diagnosis and treatment which they have seemed to illustrate. No details of investigations are given, and treatment is described in outline only.