Main pulmonary artery laceration after blunt trauma: accurate preoperative diagnosis.

Abstract

Blunt chest trauma is associated with a variety of lethal injuries, many of which are responsible for prehospital mortality. Major intrathoracic vascular injury accounts for a vast majority of these fatal injuries. Patients surviving after main pulmonary artery injury are rare. We present the case of a patient who sustained a main pulmonary artery laceration as a result of a blunt motor vehicle crash. He was diagnosed accurately by computed tomography and underwent successful repair.