CASE REPORT  VASCULAR SECTION 

The Journal of Cardiovascular Surgery 2001 December;42(6):805-7

Copyright © 2009 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

lingua: Inglese

Traumatic avulsion of the suprascapular artery

Hyde J. A. J., Jones T. J. J., Graham T. R.

From the Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery Queen Elizabeth Medical Centre Birmingham, UK

Trauma to the sub­cla­vian ­artery and its ­branches is ­rare, and usu­ally the ­result of pen­e­trating inju­ries. ­Blunt ­trauma ­presents its own pecu­liar man­age­ment dif­fi­cul­ties, par­tic­u­larly ­when ­causing hae­mor­rhage ­into the tho­racic ­cavity. Car­di­oth­o­racic sur­geons may be ­asked to ­deal ­with ­such ­cases, so an under­standing of the ­anatomy and ­options for sur­gical ­access are essen­tial. We ­present a ­case of ­blunt avul­sion of the supras­cap­ular ­artery ­resulting in mas­sive hae­moth­orax, a pre­vi­ously unre­ported ­injury.