Citation

Park CS, Wesselhoeft CW. J. Trauma 1995; 38(1): 68-69.

Affiliation

Department of Surgery, Brown University School of Medicine, Providence, Rhode Island, USA.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1995, Lippincott Williams and Wilkins)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

7745663

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: Report of management of blunt, intrapericardial inferior vena caval injury. DESIGN, MATERIALS AND METHODS: A seven-year-old boy, after falling from the back of a motorcycle, had a laceration of the intrapericardial, inferior vena cava with cardiac tamponade. He presented with hypotension and a distended abdomen. There was no evidence of thoracic trauma. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: Laparotomy demonstrated a tensely distended liver without intra-abdominal bleeding. Median sternotomy revealed a vena caval laceration, which was repaired. CONCLUSIONS: Increasing abdominal distention with an enlarging liver suggests traumatic laceration to the suprahepatic vena cava. Vascular repair is best accomplished by median sternotomy.

Language: en