Increased prevalence of left ventricular diastolic dysfunction in adults with repaired coarctation of aorta

BACKGROUND: Left ventricular (LV) pressure overload and coronary artery disease are common in patients with coarctation of aorta (COA), and they are risk factors for LV diastolic dysfunction. Patients with COA may have aortic vasculopathy that can result in LV pressure overload even in the absence of hemodynamically significant COA. We therefore hypothesized that patients with mild COA (without hemodynamically significant COA) will have more LV diastolic dysfunction compared to controls. METHODS: Adult patients with mild COA (Doppler peak velocity 2 standard deviations above age-specific normative values) between adults with repaired COA and controls. RESULTS: , standard error = 1.25, p < 0.001). CONCLUSION: LV diastolic dysfunction was common in patients with COA, and the association with LVMI suggests that patients with COA may have ongoing LV pressure overload in the absence of hemodynamically significant re-coarctation.