Abstract

GONZALEZ SOSA, Gabriel; FRIAS ESPINOSA, Jorge E; CROMBET GAINZA, Irania  and  MONTOYA CUBAS, Ivis Javier. Traumatic ruptura of the descending thoracic aorta. Rev Cubana Cir [online]. 2013, vol.52, n.1, pp.55-62. ISSN 0034-7493.

Severe thoracic traumatisms, either open or close, may occur secondary to injuries caused by firearms, knifes, traffic accidents, falls from height or thoracic compression due to crushing, among others. They have become an important cause of mortality and morbidity but they are vascular injuries directly responsible for 20 to 25 % of the total number of deaths caused by this type of traumatism. Most of the injuries occurred in healthy young people, mainly men. This is the case of a 38 years-old patient with a history of health problems, who in a street fight, suffered an injury in the posterior region of the right hemithorax, below the lower rim of the scapula. It was a penetrating wound in the thoracic cavity caused by a short sharpened object; a piece of this object was trapped into the cavity and caused a 3 cm long injury, at the level of the thoracic descending aorta. The patient was operated on in an emergency situation and the vascular injury was successfully sutured, a procedure that barely has positive results due to the high mortality rate of this type of injuries. Most of the affected people die before arriving to the specialized health center.

Keywords : severe thoracic traumatisms; vascular injuries; descending thoracic aorta; short sharpened object.