Blunt traumatic laceration of the suprahepatic inferior vena cava presenting as abdominal pain and shock in a child: a case report.
OBJECTIVE
Report of management of blunt, intrapericardial inferior vena caval injury.


METHODS
A seven-year-old boy, after falling from the back of a motorcycle, had a laceration of the intrapericardial, inferior vena cava with cardiac tamponade. He presented with hypotension and a distended abdomen. There was no evidence of thoracic trauma.


RESULTS
Laparotomy demonstrated a tensely distended liver without intra-abdominal bleeding. Median sternotomy revealed a vena caval laceration, which was repaired.


CONCLUSIONS
Increasing abdominal distention with an enlarging liver suggests traumatic laceration to the suprahepatic vena cava. Vascular repair is best accomplished by median sternotomy.
Park
C S
CS
Department of Surgery, Brown University School of Medicine, Providence, Rhode Island, USA.
Wesselhoeft
C W
CW
D015746:Abdominal Pain / Q000209:etiology*; D000058:Accidental Falls; D002305:Cardiac Tamponade / Q000209:etiology / Q000601:surgery; D002648:Child; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012771:Shock, Hemorrhagic / Q000209:etiology*; D014682:Vena Cava, Inferior / Q000601:surgery*; D014949:Wounds, Nonpenetrating / Q000209:etiology / Q000601:surgery*