Transection of the thoracic aorta: assessment of a trauma system.

A large, heavily populated area regionalized the care of critical trauma in 1980. To evaluate the system, we reviewed patient outcome for thoracic aortic transection due to blunt injury for the first 18 months of trauma system operation. Of the total of 86 patients, 43 were transferred to trauma centers, 8 to nontrauma centers, and 35 were either directly transported to the coroner or dead on arrival at the hospital. Of the eight patients transported to non-trauma centers, seven were in cardiopulmonary arrest during transport and the eighth was pronounced dead shortly after admission to the emergency department. Twenty-seven of the 43 patients transferred to trauma centers were dead within 24 minutes of admission. The cause of death was rupture of a transected aorta in 22 patients and other multiple injuries in the remaining 5. Sixteen were alive long enough in the emergency department for evaluation. Nine of these patients underwent correction of aortic transection as well as other injuries and all survived. Two of the nine survivors sustained partial or complete spinal cord damage. The remaining seven patients died, but in only one patient did the undiagnosed aortic injury contribute to the cause of death. This patient had a normal cineangiogram and the diagnosis was made at autopsy. He was considered potentially salvageable, so 9 of 10 potentially salvageable patients survived (90 percent). Of the total of 86 patients with aortic transection, 77 died (90 percent). This study shows that regionalization of trauma care offers an excellent chance for survival of patients with thoracic aortic transection.