Successful Repair of Traumatic Aortic Tears Using Left Heart Bypass

MG Caleb, YL Chua, S Shankar
Correspondence: MG Caleb

ABSTRACT
Aortic tears commonly occur in multiply injured patients. Recognizing this injury is important. A chest X-ray is helpful and a CT-angiogram or aortogram confirmatory. After attending to life-threatening injuries, the aortic tear should be repaired immediately. Using the left heart bypass technique has the lowest risk of operative neurologic injury. We review our experience over the last 2 years, discuss our preferred technique and report on the outcome.

Keywords: Traumatic aortic tears, multiple injuries, left heart bypass, centrifugal pump, spinal cord ischemia
Singapore Med J 2000; 41(9): 460-463