Procedure

Post-traumatic blunt rupture of the aorta: endo-aortic stenting therapy

Department of Emergency and Transplantation, Division of Cardiovascular Surgery, University of Bari, Bari, Italy

^* Corresponding author: ^* Istituto di Cardiochirurgia, Policlinico, Piazza Giulio Cesare 11, 70124 Bari, Italy. Tel.: +39-080-5592196; fax: +39-080-5592192. E-mail: abortone{at}cardiochir.uniba.it

With the increased use of the endovascular approach, the management and outcome of traumatic aortic injuries have changed dramatically over the past 10 years. Understanding pathogenic mechanism underlying aortic injury is critical in choosing the kind of stent-graft to be used. The possible mechanisms of non-penetrating blunt trauma of the aorta have been studied for a long time and are not completely clarified yet. The principal hypotheses concern the differential acceleration and deceleration movements exerting in horizontal and/or longitudinal planes, associated with the abrupt increase of endoluminal pressure and direct or indirect compression of the thoracic aorta from the ribcage structures. When blunt chest trauma causes direct compression of the sternum and spine with a sudden increase in endoluminal pressure, the rupture more frequently involves the ascending aorta or the descending thoracic aorta downstream the isthmus area. On the other hand, when the trauma generates differential acceleration and deceleration movements the rupture involves more frequently the isthmus because this region represents one of the points of fixity of the aorta through the junction of the ligamentum arteriosus and the first ribs. The following presentation is aimed at illustrating some of the possible pathophysiological mechanisms of post-traumatic blunt rupture of the aorta and the indications for its endovascular treatment.

Key Words: Post-traumatic aortic lesion • Isthmus region • Endovascular treatment