[Traumatic aortic rupture: diagnosis using biplanar transesophageal echocardiography].
Acute aortic rupture is a typical consequence of severe blunt chest trauma often associated with rapid deceleration in car accidents. Initial diagnostic findings are often misleading and multiorgan injuries add to the diagnostic complexity; therefore, the natural history of acute rupture is usually fatal during the first 24 h after injury if left untreated. Prompt and simple diagnosis is, hence, of paramount importance for successful treatment of acute aortic rupture. Transesophageal echocardiography, particularly with a biplane or multiplane probe, currently represents the diagnostic tool of choice to meet these criteria; because of its high sensitivity and specificity transesophageal echocardiography will replace aortography as "gold standard" for diagnosis of acute aortic rupture. We report on a 47-year-old woman with severe blunt thoraco-abdominal trauma resulting from a car accident; at hospital admission abdominal injuries were predominant and diagnosis of an acute rupture of the descending thoracic aorta was made only about 18 h after admission using biplane transesophageal echocardiography. Emergency surgical revision confirmed the diagnosis of complete transsection of the descending thoracic aorta immediately after the origin of the left subclavian artery; the site of transsection was surrounded by a large hematoma. Despite successful reconstruction of the descending thoracic aorta by means of graft interposition, a recurrent local bleeding event lead to complete circulatory destabilization and, finally, to the death of the patient.
Ritter
M
M
Department für Innere Medizin, Universitätsspital, Zürich, Schweiz.
Stocker
R
R
Rickli
H
H
Jakob
M
M
von Segesser
L
L
Jenni
R
R
D001019:Aortic Rupture / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000601:surgery; D001807:Blood Vessel Prosthesis; D017548:Echocardiography, Transesophageal; D017809:Fatal Outcome; D005260:Female; D006491:Hemothorax / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000601:surgery; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D014949:Wounds, Nonpenetrating / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000601:surgery
Traumatische Aortenruptur: Diagnose mittels biplaner transösophagealer Echokardiographie.