[Traumatic rupture of the aortic isthmus revealed by acute obstruction of the descending thoracic aorta].

A traumatic transection of the upper descending thoracic aorta, undiagnosed, was complicated on the tenth day by an acute obstruction of the descending thoracic aorta. The upper body hypertension resulted in generalised convulsions and cardiac failure with pulmonary oedema. The lower body ischemia resulted in paraplegia, acute ischemia of the lower limbs, liver failure and anuria. An emergency revascularisation of the lower body was achieved by axillary-bifemoral bypass. The improvement of the clinical status allowed complete repair of the aortic transection two days after the extra-anatomic revascularisation. This case emphasizes the severity of the cases with impaired blood flow to the lower body and the benefit of the extra-anatomic bypass in pathology of the upper descending thoracic aorta when complete repair of the aortic transection is associated with an extremely high risk.