Emergency surgery of patients with ruptured great vessels and profound shock

From October 1986 to March 1989, a total of 7 patients who had preoperative profound shock underwent surgical treatment at the National Taiwan University Hospital for a ruptured aorta or vena cava. All 7 patients were men. Their age ranged from 21 to 70 years with a mean of 45 years. Emergency operations were performed due to a ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm in 2, a ruptured dissecting thoracic aneurysm in 1, a penetrating injury which transected the intrahepatic vena cava in 2, and blunt chest injury which resulted in acute traumatic aortic transection in 2. One of these 7 patients died of acute tubular necrosis, anoxic encephalopathy and secondary sepsis, in spite of successful restoration of circulation. Two patients had postoperative complications. One had a transient paraparesis after an aortic cross-clamp, and the other had a transient impairment of the hepatic function due to the penetrating hepatic injury and the hypoxic hepatic damage. All 6 survivors were restored to an excellent state of health and had minimal post-resuscitation sequelae. We emphasize the importance of aggressive surgical treatment for those patients with the threat of impending death due to massive hemorrhage from a ruptured great vessel.