The Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, Vol 77, 622-625, Copyright © 1979 by The American Association for Thoracic Surgery and The Western Thoracic Surgical Association
Acute hypertension: its significance in traumatic aortic rupture
S Fox, WS Pierce and JA Waldhausen
Traumatic aortic rupture is a common occurrence associated with 16 percent
of deaths from automobile accidents. Through a review of current literature
and two recent cases from The Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, we have
attempted to elucidate a common physical finding, acute hypertension
associated with blunt chest trauma, and prove its significance as a
diagnostic clue to traumatic rupture of the aorta. New laboratory findings
of an aortic sympathetic reflex stimulated by stretching the aortic wall in
the area of the isthmus provides a physiological explanation for the cause
of hypertension after aortic trauma.