title: Aortic rupture in high-speed skiing crashes.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  New equipment and techniques in winter sports, such as carving skis and snowboards, have brought up new trauma patterns into the spectrum of leisure trauma. The injuries resemble high-energy trauma known from road crashes. The aim of the present study was to assess the incidence of acute traumatic descending aortic rupture in recreational skiing-crashes.
  
  
  METHODS
  Between January 1995 and December 2004, 22 patients were admitted to our hospital for aortic rupture. Four patients had skiing crashes (18.2%). Mean age was 31 years, all patients were male. In two cases, aortic rupture was associated with fractures of the upper and lower extremities. One patient additionally had a cerebral contusion with an initial Glasgow Coma Scale score of 13. In two patients, isolated aortic rupture was diagnosed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Two patients were treated by graft interposition, and one by endograft. One patient arrived under mechanical resuscitation without blood pressure. He died at admission. He had been observed for 5 hours in another hospital, complaining of severe intrascapular back pain, before transport to our trauma unit for unknown bleeding. In the other three cases, treatment was successful.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Rescue services and paramedics should be aware of this new type of injury. Acute aortic rupture has to be considered as possible injury in high velocity skiing crashes.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, University Hospital, Bern, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Georg
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Heller
authors.forename: Franz F
authors.initials: FF
authors.lastname: Immer
authors.forename: Hannu
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Savolainen
authors.forename: Eva S
authors.initials: ES
authors.lastname: Kraehenbuehl
authors.forename: Thierry P
authors.initials: TP
authors.lastname: Carrel
authors.forename: Juerg
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Schmidli
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001019:Aortic Rupture / Q000209:etiology* / Q000601:surgery; D003120:Colorado / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D012865:Skiing / Q000293:injuries*; D013895:Thoracic Arteries / Q000293:injuries* / Q000601:surgery