Dr. Robert Crawford, an MD graduate of the Medical College of Virginia, has been practicing medicine and vascular surgery for more than 20 years. The director of medical affairs at Basis Medical, he has held such titles as research associate at UC San Francisco, physician member of Emory University Healthcare, and member of several medical committees. Dr. Robert Crawford has also written several professional papers about aortic injuries.
Aortic injuries, or traumatic aortic injuries, denote when the aorta is bruised, punctured, or torn. This type of injury is a life-threatening medical condition that requires emergency care. It is characterized by low blood pressure resulting from a loss of blood due to the injury, along with pain at the injury site, difficult breathing, and hoarseness.
Traumatic aortic injury results from two main causes: blunt trauma and penetrating trauma. Blunt trauma is most often associated with motor vehicle accidents, but it can also happen when a person falls from a large height. When the aorta is affected by blunt trauma, it is usually in the form of severe deceleration that results in other chest traumas, like rib fractures. Further, injuries from this sort of trauma are predominantly in the upper chest.
Penetrating trauma, on the other hand, refers to a situation where the aorta is directly cut or punctured. This occurs due to such things as knife wounds. People are often more capable of seeing penetrating trauma since the injuries resulting from such an accident result in extensive bleeding. However, bleeding from the aorta is sometimes contained by the surrounding tissues, so the injury is not always noticeable at first.
