When a snapped sternal wire stabbed the aorta.

Fig. 1. This 44-year-old male, who had a history of aortic root replacement for acute aortic dissection 9 years ago, suffered impending rupture of dissecting aneurysm in the distal aortic arch. He underwent replacement of the aortic arch and stent graft implantation into the descending aorta. Two weeks later, the sternum was dehisced, but the cut end of the snapped wire was remote from the aorta. Surgical revision of the sternum was not performed because of his delayed convalescence.