[Traumatic aortic valve insufficiency].

The traumatic aortic valvular insufficiency (TAVI), through less frequent after a non-penetrating thoracic traumatism, is a serious entity with a very reserved prognosis. So it must be suspected in every patients with signs or symptoms of de novo heart failure post-traumatism. The transthoracic echocardiography and eventually transesophageal echocardiography have a fundamental role in the confirmation of the diagnosis. The clinical picture of traumatic aortic regurgitation is quickly evolutionary and the non efficacy of medical therapy has placed the valvular substitution surgery as the best succeeded treatment. With the advent of the aortic valve repairing surgery some TAVI cases has been submitted to this procedure. Nevertheless, the development of residual aortic regurgitation in these situations, usually requiring later valvular replacement surgery, make the aortic valvuloplasty a controversial surgical technique. The AA describe a recent clinical case of aortic regurgitation after a non-penetrant thoracic traumatism, discussing the aspects connected with physiopathology, diagnosis and therapy. The singularity of this case was based on the fact that the initial clinical diagnosis had been prejudiced by the context of a polytraumatism and there had been a time free of symptoms between the traumatism and the beginning of the symptomatology of left ventricular failure. Even though the identification of the problem allowed an intensive treatment of this serious situation that ended with the replacement of the aortic valve by mechanical aortic prosthesis, with the patient's total recovery.