2022 Volume 31 Issue 3 Pages 109-111
Blunt thoracic trauma sometimes causes great vessel injuries. However, traumatic hemiazygos vein injury is rarely reported. A 49-years-old man was injured in a traffic accident and transported to our emergency room. He was in shock; computed tomography scan showed a left massive hemothorax due to hemiazygos vein injury. We performed emergency resuscitative thoracotomy and thoracic gauze packing. After the circulatory status stabilized, the patient was moved to the operation room for a second look. We found continuous bleeding from hemiazygos vein; therefore, we ligated it and performed gauze packing again. The patients was subsequently transferred to intensive care unit for further resuscitation. 6 hours later, we performed third look surgery and chest closure. His postoperative course was uneventful, and he was transferred to a different hospital for rehabilitation on the postoperative day 17. Our observation suggest that damage control surgery is an effective strategy for case of hemiazygos vein injury with shock symptoms.
