Abstract
A 24-year-old man was transferred to our hospital because of traumatic rupture of the thoracic aorta suffered in a traffic accident. On admission, he had recovered from shock and was alert. Chest CT showed massive hematoma around the total extent of the descending aora and the intimal flap at the diatal descending aorta. We performed an emergency operation. Through left thoracotomy, we found dilatation of the descending aorta. Epiaortic echo revealed that the aortic intima was completely transecred between Th 10 and Th 11. The pseudoaneurysm was replaced with a Hemashield vascular graft under partial cardiopulmonary bypass. The intercostal artery was preserved. His postoperative course was uneventful and paraplegia was not seen. We reported a rare case of traumatic rupture of the distal descending thoracic aorta above the diaphragm followed by successful surgical treatment.
