Search

Blunt traumatic aortic transection remains a lethal condition. Treatment requires a high index of suspicion, prompt diagnosis, and expedient operative repair. Even in the best of circumstances, morbidity and mortality associated with open surgical repair are high, particularly because of frequent occurrence of other severe associated injuries. Endoluminal aortic stent-graft repair is an accepted treatment option in patients with aneurysm degeneration, and may be an alternative means of managing contained aortic transection. We describe three cases of blunt traumatic thoracic aortic transection treated with commercially available aortic endoluminal stent grafts.

O SCVIR, 1997 THE causes of internal jugular vein thrombosis are myriad. Specific etiologies previously reported include intravenous drug abuse, indwelling venous catheters, adjacent neoplasms, hypercoagulability, soft-tissue infections, and spontaneous or idiopathic thrombosis (1-4). We report a case of traumatic occlusion of the internal jugular veins that was successfully treated with percutaneous endoluminal stent placement.

The case of anastomotic rupture of the subclavian artery following infection of a subclavian-to-carotid bypass grafting is reported. Emergency endoluminal stent graft repair was life saving and aided wound healing, but stent graft thrombosis occurred. Such a complication raises some concern about the safety of this procedure in an infected setting. The use of autologous saphenous vein-covered stent graft may provide some advantages in avoiding graft infection and thrombosis.

The infection of an endoluminal stent graft (ESG) for AAA repair is unusual. We report the successful management of this serious complication with an open in situ graft replacement and omentopexy.

Thoracic mural thrombi (TMT) are rare but an important source of distal emboli. Treatment options are dynamic, ranging from open, endovascular to conservative therapies. We report two cases of TMT, one successfully treated with thoracic aortic endoluminal stent placement for visceral and peripheral embolization, the second treated conservatively for digital embolization secondary to TMT in the innominate artery.