The role of intravascular ultrasound in acute traumatic aortic rupture.

Acute traumatic aortic rupture is a lethal injury and requires immediate diagnosis and surgical repair. The standard of diagnosis for aortic rupture is aortography. In patients in whom the angiographic findings of rupture are subtle or uncertain, intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) imaging of the descending aorta has been useful in confirming or excluding mural injury. However, because IVUS is unable to provide a complete and expeditious survey of the aorta and brachiocephalic arteries, the diagnosis of rupture will continue to rely on aortography or current generation computed tomography.