Current management of thoracic aortic trauma

Blunt traumatic thoracic injuries remain a highly lethal injury in a predominantly young population of trauma patients. Prior to the last decade open repair was the only form of treatment but patients were exposed to the risk of mortality and major morbidity, namely paraplegia. Since then thoracic endovascular repair has mainly replaced open repair as a less invasive and less morbid alternative. Questions remain, however, as to which injuries should be treated and the preferred follow up regimens. Longer term data is also limited. The following is a review of the current treatment strategies for these catastrophic aortic injuries.