Dilated cardiomyopathy secondary to coarctation of the aorta was completely resolved after stent implantation.

Although rare in adults, coarctation of the aorta can present as an occult cause of cardiomyopathy. In this case report, we describe a 55-year-old man who presented to our clinic with new-onset symptoms of heart failure. Transthoracic echocardiography showed a dilated left ventricle with severely depressed systolic function. Cardiac catheterisation showed no critical coronary artery disease but a severe aortic coarctation just distal to the origin of the left subclavian artery, with a peak-to-peak systolic pressure gradient of 40 mmHg. We successfully implanted a balloon-expandable stent with good angiographic results. The procedure resulted in immediate clinical improvement. Six-months after stent implantation, the patient was free of symptoms and an echocardiographic examination showed completely normalised cardiac size and systolic function.