Serendipitous diagnosis of aortic coarctation by bilateral parvus et tardus renal Doppler flow pattern.
BACKGROUND
Aorta Coarctation (AC) is uncommon condition that in most adult patients is asymptomatic. Diagnosis of AC is made during routine physical examination by detection of Blood Pressure (BP) difference between arm and leg.


OBJECTIVE
To describe a novel renal artery Doppler flow pattern pathognomonic of aortic coarctation.


METHODS
We enrolled 4 consecutive patients referred to renal artery Doppler Ultrasonography (DU) for diagnostic work-up of secondary arterial hypertension. All met the following inclusion criteria: 1) arterial hypertension at age <30 years; 2) referred for renal DU to rule out renovascular hypertension.


RESULTS
We found in all 4 patients (age range 10 to 27 years) a bilateral "parvus-tardus" renal Doppler flow pattern. In all, echocardiographic and angiographic work-ups showed aortic coarctation.


CONCLUSIONS
Careful physical examination should be performed in all hypertensive patients. Furthermore, the suspicion of AC can be raised by a bilateral renal arteries "parvus-tardus" Doppler flow pattern in young hypertensive patients screened for secondary hypertension.
Department of Radiology, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran. Tarzamni@yahoo.com
Mohammad Kazem
MK
Tarzamni
Nariman
N
Nezami
Mohammad Reza
MR
Ardalan
Jalal
J
Etemadi
Hamid
H
Noshad
Fatemeh Gatreh
FG
Samani
Mehrnoush
M
Toufan
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001017:Aortic Coarctation / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006977:Hypertension, Renal / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D033162:Incidental Findings; D008297:Male; D012077:Renal Artery / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D018608:Ultrasonography, Doppler / Q000379:methods*