A 12-Year-Old Girl Went to the Hospital After Her Blood Pressure Hit 225 and Was Stunned: "What Is This Coral Reef-Like Thing in Her Aorta?"

Suffered from headaches and dizziness for more than five months
Diagnosed with rare disease "coral reef aorta"
Case published in international journal of clinical case reports

A 12-year-old girl in China sought medical care for severe hypertension, with her systolic blood pressure reaching 225 mmHg, and was diagnosed with a rare condition that causes coral reef-like calcified lesions to develop in the aorta.

According to the Journal of Medical Case Reports, an international journal specializing in the publication of clinical case reports, medical staff at the First Affiliated Hospital of Xinjiang Medical University in Urumqi, Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, China, presented the case. The paper was released on July 13.

The photo is for illustrative purposes only and is not related to the article's specific content. Pixabay.

According to the report, the girl, who is Uyghur, had suffered intermittent headaches for more than five months. Each episode lasted around three to four hours and was accompanied by dizziness, fatigue and vomiting.

Her hypertension was discovered just six days before she was transferred to the hospital. Her blood pressure at the first hospital she visited was 205/140 mmHg. Medical staff immediately administered vasodilators and antihypertensive medication, but her blood pressure did not budge. By the time she was transferred to a higher-level hospital, it had climbed to 225/158 mmHg.

Initial tests revealed infarctions in both kidneys and the spleen, indicating tissue damage caused by blocked blood supply. The doctors initially suspected polyarteritis nodosa, but the girl's blood pressure remained inadequately controlled despite medication. A subsequent computed tomography angiography (CTA) scan of the entire aorta revealed calcified lesions in her descending thoracic aorta and abdominal aorta.

In particular, the hard calcified lesions protruding into the blood vessel resembled coral reefs under the sea. The doctors diagnosed the condition as "coral reef aorta." Coral reef aorta is a rare vascular disease in which hard calcified lesions form inside the aorta, narrowing the vessel and obstructing blood flow. It primarily affects adults with vascular disease risk factors such as high cholesterol, diabetes and smoking, and is very rare in children.

The doctors performed balloon angioplasty to treat stenosis in the right renal artery. However, they did not insert a stent into the blood vessel, taking into account that the patient was a growing child. They were concerned that a stent could affect the vessel's future growth.

After the procedure, the girl's blood pressure was controlled with medication. The paper reported that her hypertension had not recurred during 18 months of follow-up.

The doctors emphasized, "Unlike in adults, hypertension in children is often caused by underlying conditions such as kidney disease. If blood pressure cannot be controlled with standard treatment, rare vascular diseases should also be considered as a possible cause."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.