Traumatic lesions of the thoracic aorta. A report of 73 cases

In a 24 year period we treated 73 traumatic lesions of the thoracic aorta; 36 of these were acute ruptures and 37 post traumatic pseudo-aneurysms. All these cases were associated with violent, sudden deceleration and in 68 instances the cause of this was a traffic accident. Fifty two patients (70%) had severe associated lesions involving the cranium, abdomen, thorax or leg fractures and dislocations but in 5 patients the aortic rupture was the only injury observed. Thirty four patients with acute aortic lesions were operated upon; 30 with extracorporeal circulatory assistance (CA) and 4 with aortic cross clamping alone. Twenty one were repaired by direct suture, 13 by prosthetic graft interposition and there were 8 deaths (23.5%) and one case of post-operative paraplegia. Thirty six traumatic aneurysms were operated upon; 34 with CA and 2 with cross clamping. Only two were repaired by direct suture, 5 by prosthetic angioplasty and 29 required prosthetic interposition grafts; there were no deaths or paraplegias in this group. Aortic rupture demands early diagnosis and immediate surgery. Associated abdominal injuries are easily missed and therefore exploratory laparotomy should be considered after every acute aortic repair.