Traumatic Disruption of the Thoracic Aorta After a Sport Accident

Abstract

Blunt traumatic aortic rupture is a life-threatening emergency usually related to a violent crash involving sudden
deceleration. This rupture occurs exceptionally during sportive activity leading to a sudden death.
Case report: We report the case of a thirteen-year-old child, left handed, who died from a rupture of the aortic
isthmus while performing shot put. An autopsy was carried out and revealed a left thoracic hemorrhage due to a
complete and circumferential rupture of the aortic isthmus, involving all the layers of the aortic wall.
Anatomopathologic investigations did not find any disease of the elastic tissue.
Discussion: Shot put is a particular sport that requires a static traction force with a support on the trunk and
the upper limbs. In addition, it involves a torsion movement while launching.
Moreover, for a left handed person, the stretching resulting from the launching is more important on the isthmus
because it is anatomically located on the left side of the body. This may explain the aortic rupture in the case we
report.
Conclusion: We conclude that this death resulted from an abundant thoracic hemorrhage due to a blunt traumatic
aortic rupture that happened during practicing sport: performing shot put ball in the absence of any other supporting
condition.
Even if this accident is exceptionally observed, some measures must be respected during exercise in order to
prevent such accidents