The successful surgical repair of a traumatic transection of the descending thoracic aorta: report of a case.

An 18-year-old man involved in a traffic accident presented with a left-sided hemothorax. After undergoing left chest tube drainage, he showed temporary stable hemodynamics for 7 h. Later, an emergency left thoracotomy was performed because of abrupt hemorrhagic shock. The intima and media of the descending thoracic aorta was completely transected, and a tube graft was successfully interposed with a simple aortic clamp in 47 min. The patient was eventually discharged from the hospital with no sequelae, such as paraplegia.