[Aortic diverticulum: differential diagnosis of traumatic lesions of the thoracic aorta]

We report the case of a 31-year-old patient with a chest trauma after a mountaineering accident. Contrast enhanced spiral computed tomography of the thorax showed a lesion of the aortic isthmus, suspected of being an aortic disruption. As the diagnosis of aortic rupture could not be formally established with computed tomography, a transoesophageal echocardiography and an aortic angiography were performed which showed a ductus diverticulum, representing one of the differential diagnoses of traumatic aortic disruption. A knowledge of this entity and its diagnostic criteria may avoid an unnecessary thoracotomy.