Cerebral complications following balloon angioplasty of coarctation of the aorta.

A 10-month-old male child underwent balloon angioplasty for a recurrent coarctation of the aorta. Postprocedural hemorrhagic cerebral infarction led to the child's death. At necropsy, hypoplasia of the left posterior communicating artery of the circle of Willis was found. The implications of such variations in cerebral blood flow circulation on the angioplasty technique are presented and discussed.