Treatment of traumatic false aneurysm of the thoracic aorta with stent graft

UNLABELLED: The treatment of traumatic false aneurysm of the thoracic aorta by endovascular stent graft may have advantages over conventional surgery. This is a case study of two women suffering from false aneurysm of the thoracic aorta caused in one by a knife injury and in the other by a car accident. After the patients became hemodynamically stable, a commercially available endothelial stent graft (Talent, Gor) was deployed. Recovery was rapid in the first patient. The second patient required emergency laparotomy for venous bleeding one day after stent placement; she died two weeks later, mainly from organ failure. CONCLUSIONS: Endovascular techniques can be used in selected cases to treat thoracic false aneurysms thereby avoiding the complexity and morbidity of conventional surgery.