Lateral impact motor vehicle collisions: significant cause of blunt traumatic rupture of the thoracic aorta

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Katyal, Deepak^1,2; McLellan, Barry A.^1,2; Brenneman, Frederick D.^1,2; Boulanger, Bernard R.^1,2; Sharkey, Philip W.^1,2; Waddell, James P.^2,3

Lateral impact motor vehicle collisions: significant cause of blunt traumatic rupture of the thoracic aorta

J Trauma. May 1997;42(5):769-772

©1997 Williams & Wilkins

Affiliations

¹Sunnybrook Health Science Centre, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

²Department of Surgery, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

³St. Michael’s Hospital, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Abstract and keywords

Background: This study was undertaken to determine the relationship between traumatic rupture of the thoracic aorta (TRA) and the direction of impact at the time of motor vehicle crash.

Methods: Retrospective review of TRA patients from two different databases over a 4.5-year period (January 1, 1991 to June 30, 1995): (1) Ontario Coroner's Office records of motor vehicle deaths from Metropolitan Toronto, and (2) the trauma registries of Sunnybrook Health Science Centre and St. Michael's Hospital in Metropolitan Toronto.

Results: Ninety-seven patients (81 from the coroner's database and 16 from the adult trauma unit registries) sustained traumatic rupture of the thoracic aorta. Forty-eight cases (49.5%) were a result of lateral impact crashes. Twenty-eight drivers (22 ipsilateral and six contralateral) and 20 passengers (16 ipsilateral and four contralateral) sustained TRA from lateral impact crashes. Ninety-one TRAs (94%) occurred at the peri-isthmic region.

Conclusion: Lateral impact crashes are a significant cause of TRA. Traumatic rupture of the aorta should be considered with a high index of suspicion after serious lateral impact crashes, just as physicians now consider patients at high risk of TRA after serious frontal impact crashes.

Keywords: Traumatic aortic rupture, Motor vehicle crash, Lateral impact
Links

DOI: 10.1097/00005373-199705000-00002

PubMed: 9191653

WoS: A1997XD78900002

Ovid: 00005373-199705000-00002

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