Successful treatment of a patient with a severely calcified aorta by an ascending aorta to iliac artery graft--a case report.

Coral reef aorta is a rare, unique entity with extensive calcification of the entire aorta, mainly the supra- and juxtarenal part. The main symptoms are lower limb claudication, hypertension, deterioration of renal function and angina abdominalis. We report a case of successful treatment of a patient with a coral reef aorta by an ascending aorta to iliac artery bypass graft. Five years later the descending aorta was found to be completely occluded with visceral and distal perfusion via the bypass only.