Broux C, Lavagne P, Ferretti G, Blin D, Jacquot C
Département d'anesthésie et de réanimation I, centre hospitalier universitaire de Grenoble, France.
Ann Fr Anesth Reanim. 1999 Dec;18(10):1065-8. doi: 10.1016/s0750-7658(00)87441-9.
We report the case of a 31-year-old patient with a chest trauma after a mountaineering accident. Contrast enhanced spiral computed tomography of the thorax showed a lesion of the aortic isthmus, suspected of being an aortic disruption. As the diagnosis of aortic rupture could not be formally established with computed tomography, a transoesophageal echocardiography and an aortic angiography were performed which showed a ductus diverticulum, representing one of the differential diagnoses of traumatic aortic disruption. A knowledge of this entity and its diagnostic criteria may avoid an unnecessary thoracotomy.
