RT Book, Section
A1 Magee, Gregory A.
A1 Demetriades, Demetrios
A2 DuBose, Joseph J.
A2 Teixeira, Pedro G.
A2 Rajani, Ravi R.
SR Print(0)
ID 1200599505
T1 Descending Thoracic Aortic Injuries
T2 Vascular Injury: Endovascular and Open Surgical Management
YR 2023
FD 2023
PB McGraw Hill
PP New York, NY
SN 9781264269822
LK accesssurgery.mhmedical.com/content.aspx?aid=1200599505
RD 2024/04/24
AB The  majority  of  descending  thoracic  aortic  injuries  occur  due  to  blunt  trauma,  which  in  turn  are  caused  by  increased  aortic  pressures  and  shear  stress  resulting  from  a  rapid  deceleration  mechanism.  Blunt  thoracic  aortic  injuries  most  commonly  occur  from  motor  vehicle  collisions,  motorcycle  collisions,  auto  versus  pedestrian,  or  a  fall  from  height.1  It  has  been  estimated  that  8000  blunt  thoracic  aortic  injuries  occur  annually  in  the  United  States  but  the  true  incidence  may  be  significantly  higher  since  it  has  been  reported  that  the  vast  majority  of  patients  with  these  injuries  die  at  the  scene  and  may  never  be  diagnosed  or  counted.2  This  is  evidenced  by  two  autopsy  studies  which  found  that  a  third  of  all  deaths  from  blunt  trauma  had  blunt  thoracic  aortic  injuries  and  only  20%  of  these  made  it  to  the  hospital  alive.3,4  Penetrating  injuries  to  the  thoracic  aorta  are  much  less  common,  usually  occur  from  gunshot  wounds,  and  typically  present  with  massive  hemothorax  and  in  extremis.  Survival  to  the  hospital  from  penetrating  injury  to  the  thoracic  aortic  is  even  rarer.