title: Does sternal fracture increase the risk for aortic rupture?
abstract: We retrospectively reviewed the records of 99 patients who suffered sternal fractures between 1968 and 1987. Patients ranged in age from 5 to 86 years. The most common cause of injury was a motor vehicle accident. The 99 patients were compared with a concurrent series of 2,106 patients with chest injuries and no sternal fractures. Traumatic aortic rupture occurred in 2 of 99 patients with sternal fractures (2%) and in 75 of 2,106 patients without sternal fracture (3.6%). This difference was not statistically significant by the Fisher exact test (p = 0.326). We conclude that traumatic aortic rupture does not occur more commonly in patients with sternal fracture when compared with other patients with blunt chest injuries.
authors.affiliation: Department of Emergency Medicine, St. Paul-Ramsey Medical Center, Minnesota.
authors.forename: J T
authors.initials: JT
authors.lastname: Sturm
authors.forename: M G
authors.initials: MG
authors.lastname: Luxenberg
authors.forename: B M
authors.initials: BM
authors.lastname: Moudry
authors.forename: J F
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Perry
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001013:Aorta, Thoracic; D001014:Aortic Aneurysm / Q000209:etiology; D001019:Aortic Rupture / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000209:etiology*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005596:Fractures, Closed / Q000150:complications*; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D011859:Radiography; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013249:Sternum / Q000293:injuries*; D014949:Wounds, Nonpenetrating / Q000150:complications*