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Originally Posted by spectre
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Yes, a coarctation is a blockage, but not in the same way a clot is. It's a "pinching" shut of the artery. Mine was a really, really, really bad pinching, though, to the point where the aorta that was just starting to descend stopped and then started again about a half an inch or so later. There were small veins connecting each end that are credited with keeping me alive (and that I still have, which augment the ability of the dacron tube they put in).
Here is a big image of a normal coarctation:
http://radiographics.rsnajnls.org/co...7ma04g02a.jpeg
Mine looked like that, only the pinching was more severe so there was actual separation.
Quote:
Originally Posted by spectre
I'm really confused here, how can you have a constriction of an artery that you weren't born with?
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I was born with it. It's a deformation of the circulatory system, I'm pretty sure one can only be born with it. I had the surgery at 5 years old, a few months after my pediatrician detected a murmur during a normal checkup. I think it was in late October of 1988, because I remember missing Halloween.
I've also had endocarditis, but that didn't leave any scars.
