Imaging blunt traumatic aortic injury: a Canadian tertiary care trauma centre case series

Abstract

Few individuals survive blunt traumatic aortic injury (TAI); however, the mortality rate is dramatically lowered by timely diagnosis and treatment. We performed a retrospective review of patients that had undergone aortography or were entered in a trauma database with a diagnosis of TAI between December 1, 1996, and April 1, 2004. The diagnostic utility of computed tomography (CT) was compared to the gold standards of aortography and operative findings. Forty charts were reviewed. Fifty-two percent had indirect CT signs and 39 percent had direct CT signs of TAI. Six TAI's were surgically confirmed and repaired. Computed tomography for TAI had a sensitivity of 100 percent and a specificity of 74 percent. Computed tomography imaging has obviated aortography in screening for TAI. Aortography continues to have a valuable diagnostic role prior to surgical management.