Blunt chest trauma: a right pulmonary vein rupture

This report describes the case of a 37-year-old man who fell from 6 m heigh t and presented an isolated rupture of the right pulmonary vein. The patien t had a low blood pressure without any sign of intrathoracic injury. An ech ocardiogram revealed a tamponade with hemodynamic intolerance. The repair w as made using cardiopulmonary bypass which made the inspection and total re pair of the lesions easier. This case is unusual because of the isolated le sion and the few articles about similar reports founded in an extended lite rature review. Mechanisms and generation of blunt chest trauma lesions are discussed. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science BN. All rights reserved.