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Multicenter Study
. 2019 Jun 10;55(6):263.
doi: 10.3390/medicina55060263.

The Importance of the Mediastinal Triangle in Traumatic Lesions of the Aorta

Daniel Gulias-Soidan  1 , Daniel Fraga-Manteiga  2 , Víctor X Mosquera-Rodriguez  3 , Milagros Marini-Diaz  4 , Paula Lopez-Bargiela  5 , Cristina González-Martín  6 , Vanesa Balboa-Barreiro  7
Affiliations
Multicenter Study

The Importance of the Mediastinal Triangle in Traumatic Lesions of the Aorta

Daniel Gulias-Soidan et al. Medicina (Kaunas). .

Abstract

Background: Trauma-induced aortic injuries continue to be an important factor in morbimortality in patients with blunt trauma. Objectives: To determine the characteristics of aortic lesions in patients with closed thoracic trauma and associated thoracic injuries. Methods: Multicenter cohort study conducted during the years 1994 to 2014 in the radiology service in the University Hospital Complex of A Coruña. Patients >15 years with closed thoracic trauma were included. Sociodemographic and clinical variables were studied in order to determine the lesion cause, location, and degree. Results: We analyzed 232 patients with a mean age of 46.9 ± 18.7 years, consisting of 81.4% males. The most frequent location was at the level of the isthmus (55.2%). The most frequent causes of injury were traffic accidents followed by falls. Patients with aortic injury had more esophageal, airway, and cardiopericardial lesions. More than 85% of the patients had lung parenchyma and/or chest wall injury, which was more prevalent among those who did not have an aortic lesion. Conclusions: Patients with trauma due to traffic accidents or being run over presented three times more risk of aortic injury than from other causes. Those with an aortic lesion also had a higher frequency of cardiopericardial, airway, and esophageal lesions.

Keywords: aorta; blunt trauma; thoracic trauma.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Survival in patients with thoracic trauma according to the type of injury.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Collision trauma. Axial computed tomography (CT) (A) and coronal reconstruction (B) identify focal dissection and periaortic hematoma in the isthmus region.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Mediastinal triangle in which the trachea, esophagus, and aorta are located.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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