Main pulmonary artery laceration after blunt trauma: Accurate preoperativediagnosis

Blunt chest trauma is associated with a variety of lethal injuries, many of which are responsible for prehospital mortality. Major intrathoracic vascu lar injury accounts for a vast majority of these fatal injuries. Patients s urviving after main pulmonary artery injury are rare. We present the case o f a patient who sustained a main pulmonary artery laceration as a result of a blunt motor vehicle crash. He was diagnosed accurately by computed tomog raphy and underwent successful repair. (Ann Thorac Surg 2000;70:955-7) (C) 2000 by The Society of Thoracic Surgeons.