Transesophageal echocardiographic examination of a patient with traumatic aortic transection from blunt chest trauma: a case report.

Traumatic aortic disruption is an injury associated with high mortality. Early recognition, diagnosis, and surgical repair are important in order to salvage patients with this injury. We report a case in which transesophageal echocardiography, a rapid, minimally invasive diagnostic technique, was used to identify an acute disruption of the proximal descending aorta in a patient with blunt chest trauma.