Acute hypertension: its significance in traumatic aortic rupture
Fox, S.; Pierce, W.S.; Waldhausen, J.A.
Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery 77(4): 622-625
1979
ISSN/ISBN: 0022-5223 PMID: 423596 Document Number: 147902
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.