Chronic traumatic pseudoaneurysm of the thoracic aorta: a report of two cases following gunshot injury.

Gunshot injury to the thoracic aorta is nearly always fatal. Although the victim usually will succumb to exsanguination or tamponade in the minutes following injury, unusual cases of occult injury occur when a pseudoaneurysm, occlusion, or fistula forms at the site of injury. We report two patients with gunshot injury to the thoracic aorta that resulted in chronic pseudoaneurysms that went undetected for 325 and 46 days, respectively. Computed tomography and aortography were utilized to verify these pseudoaneurysms, and both patients underwent successful surgical repair.