Related Experiment Videos
Blunt intrapericardial rupture of the pulmonary artery in a surviving patient
R H Clements1, L S Wagmeister, R P Carraway
1Department of Surgery, Carraway Methodist Medical Center, Birmingham, AL 35234, USA.
The Annals of Thoracic Surgery
|July 1, 1997
Abstract:
Blunt chest trauma can produce a number of potentially lethal injuries, including pulmonary artery rupture. Survivors of pulmonary artery injuries are rare. Most previously reported surviving patients presented with hemothorax from a hilar injury. We report a patient who survived a blunt rupture of the intrapericardial portion of the pulmonary artery and thus presented with pericardial tamponade. The interventions that led to her survival are discussed.