CASE REPORT   

Gazzetta Medica Italiana Archivio per le Scienze Mediche 2018 May;177(5):246-8

DOI: 10.23736/S0393-3660.17.03549-5

Copyright © 2017 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

language: English

Thoracic aorta rupture due to deceleration injury in a motor vehicle accident

Patrizia GUALNIERA ✉, Serena SCURRIA, Daniela SAPIENZA, Alessio ASMUNDO

Departmental Section of Legal Medicine, Department of Biomedical and Dental Sciences and Morphofunctional Imaging, University of Messina, A.O.U. “G. Martino”, Messina, Italy

Traumatic rupture of the thoracic aortic is one of the causes of fatalities occurring in motor vehicle accidents. Various different mechanisms of aortic injury have been described in surgical and autopsy reports, as well as in experimental studies. An indirect mechanism of injury is stretching due to rapid deceleration caused by the sudden arrest of a body at speed on impact with another object and can also be observed in persons involved in motor vehicle accidents. Here we report a rare case of fatal thoracic aortic rupture due to deceleration injury in a motorcyclist.

KEY WORDS: Aorta, thoracic - Wounds and injuries - Deceleration - Accidents, traffic