BLUNT CHEST TRAUMA WITH AORTIC RUPTURE AN D LUNG CONTUSION ON A 15-YEAR OLD GIRL - DIAGNOSTIC, OPERATIVE AND INTENSIVE-CARE MANAGEMENT

The number of published cases of adolescents surviving thoracic aortic injuries with accompanying severe thoracic injuries is small. Only 20 -30% of all these patients reach the trauma center alive, In the prese nt case we demonstrate the diagnostic, operative and intensive care ma nagement in a 15-year-old girl. The exact interpretation of the AP tho racic X-ray in connection with a typical mechanism of injury led to th e detection of a haemomediastinum. This is very important in the furth er development of diagnostics, because the conventional X-ray picture does not show significant signs in the case of an incomplete aortic ru pture. Diagnostic hints have to be derived from the detection of the h aemomediastinum. The girl was operated on under left heart bypass. Spi nal ischaemia was absent after surgery, and renal failure also did not occur. The adjacent severe lung contusion healed under kinetic therap y with a kinetic treatment table without pulmonary complications.