Contrast-enhanced helical computerised tomography in the investigation of thoracic aortic injury

Aortic angiography is widely considered the 'gold standard' for the diagnosis of traumatic thoracic aortic injury. Unfortunately, thoracic aortic angiography has many disadvantages: the technique is invasive but, more importantly, it is not routinely available in all hospitals, necessitating transfer of critically ill patients. Contrast-enhancement helical computerised tomography (CEHCT) of the thorax is rapidly becoming available, especially in more district general hospitals, and has been shown to be as sensitive and specific in detecting aortic trauma as angiography. This technique has the advantage of being non-invasive and is able to demonstrate injuries other than thoracic aortic disruption. We present four cases of traumatic thoracic disruption initially diagnosed using CEHCT in whom surgical repair was performed on the basis of the CEHCT findings. The surgical findings of aortic injury were correlated with CEHCT features.