Acute traumatic rupture of the thoracic aorta: place of delayed surgical repair.

Acute traumatic rupture of the thoracic aorta (ATRTA) is considered as an emergency which requires immediate surgery. However surgical mortality is high with an average of 20% in the literature. Twenty seven patients were observed from 1973 to 1986. Three patients were not operated upon (Group I), twenty patients had immediate surgery (Group II) with 60% mortality, four patients underwent delayed surgery (Group III) with 25% mortality. Analysis of cause of death show that associated lesions were present in 72% of pts who did not survive and in only 37% among survivors. Associated lesions may be lethal initially (e.g. brain trauma) or they may be aggravated by the thoracic procedure. Complications from associated lesions may also compromise the outcome. It is well known that the majority of deaths from ATRTA occur within 24 hours. Immediate repair of the aortic lesion should be the rule when aortic rupture is isolated or associated with moderate injuries. It may be however that in some cases with severe and multiple associated lesions who survive the initial aortic injury, delayed repair of ATRTA could be considered.