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Annals of The Royal College of Surgeons of England logoLink to Annals of The Royal College of Surgeons of England
. 1994 Nov;76(6):381–383.

Traumatic rupture of the thoracic aorta: computed tomography may be a dangerous waste of time.

M J Unsworth-White 1, T Buckenham 1, T Treasure 1
PMCID: PMC2502269  PMID: 7702318

Abstract

Traumatic rupture of the thoracic aorta is a justifiably feared condition. Some authors have proposed the use of computed tomography as a non-invasive means of diagnosis. We report two cases where computed tomographic scans were misinterpreted, leading to erroneous diagnoses and inappropriate referrals. The pitfalls of using a cross-sectional imaging technique to diagnose a transverse lesion and the relative ease and accuracy of aortography are discussed.

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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