Abstract
A woman in her 80s was suffering from blunt right upper extremity trauma with fracture of the surgical neck of the humerus. She was transported to our hospital in shock, and rupture of the main trunk of the axillary artery was diagnosed by whole body contrast CT examination. The medical examination revealed hemodynamic instability, and we decided to perform transcatheter arterial embolization. With interventional radiology, bleeding was well controlled and her general condition improved. Therefore, revascularization surgery could be performed successfully and she recovered without loss of her upper extremity.
Limb fracture is frequently encountered in emergency care, but vascular trauma with fracture is uncommon, and rupture is very rare. When the main trunk of an extremity artery is ruptured, the patient's life might be threatened by massive hemorrhage. In the emergency setting, interventional radiology is very useful for hemostatic control, but the procedure should be completed as quickly as possible before the patient's condition deteriorates further. In this context, radiologists should be knowledgeable about the concept of damage control intervention.
