Citation

Timberlake GA, Kerstein MD, McSwain NE. South. Med. J. 1989; 82(8): 970-972.

Affiliation

Department of Surgery, Tulane University School of Medicine, New Orleans, La 70112.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1989, Southern Medical Association)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

2669156

Abstract

Penetrating injuries of the thoracic aorta are rare and often fatal. Victims of such wounds rarely survive to reach the emergency department. Those patients who do arrive will display one of two symptom complexes--either continuing hemorrhage or seeming hemodynamic stability with a widened mediastinum on chest roentgenography. As the results of our study of six such patients show, at least 50% of those who arrive with any signs of life may be salvaged by aggressive surgical management.

Language: en