Open vs endovascular repair of blunt traumatic thoracic aortic injuries
Received 4 December 2009; accepted 4 December 2009.
A 42-year-old female is involved in a motor vehicle accident and presents with a number of injuries. She is hemodynamically stable and is found to have multiple rib fractures, a hemopneumothorax, and several uncomplicated long bone fractures. A CT scan of her chest reveals a traumatic injury to her proximal descending thoracic aorta with evidence of pseudoaneurysm formation and surrounding hematoma (Fig 1). The following debate attempts to resolve whether open repair remains the gold standard for the treatment of blunt thoracic aortic injuries.
Thomas L. Forbes, MD, Section Editor
aDivision of Vascular Surgery, Vancouver General Hospital & University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
bDivision of Vascular Surgery, QEII Health Sciences Centre & Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
Reprint requests: Dr Jerry C. Chen, Division of Vascular Surgery, University of British Columbia, Room 4203-2775 Laurel Street, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada V5Z 1M9
Competition of interest: none.
The editors and reviewers of this article have no relevant financial relationships to disclose per the JVS policy that requires reviewers to decline review of any manuscript for which they may have a competition of interest.
ABSTRACT