Traumatic rupture of the thoracic aorta.

A retrospective analysis of traumatic ruptures of the aorta is presented. Importance is stressed upon the plain chest film as the primary examination. Angiography revealed false aneurysms with classic localization just distal to the left subclavian artery in 10 cases and a transverse intimal tear in one case. The detection of chronic false aneurysms is equally important as they also require surgical repair.