Endovascular treatment of concomitant innominate and subclavian artery injury with pseudoaneurysms from a gunshot wound in a polytrauma patient

Abstract

Introduction

Injury of the innominate artery (IA) is associated with high mortality and morbidity, such as a major neurologic event. The aim of this case report was to describe an example of prioritization in polytrauma management by applying endovascular intervention in a difficult case with impending uncal herniation, extensive cerebral infarction, and large pseudoaneurysm from concomitant innominate and right subclavian artery injuries.

Case Report

A 34-year-old woman sustained a gunshot wound to her upper chest that lodged in the anterior triangle of her neck and presented with tension pneumothorax and cardiac arrest, which was successfully resuscitated. Subsequently she developed drowsiness and left hemiparesis, and computerized tomography demonstrated a large right cerebral hemisphere and left cerebellar region infarction with impending uncal herniation and pseudoaneurysms from the IA and proximal right subclavian artery. After emergency craniectomy to avert herniation, endovascular treatment was performed to facilitate vessel repair due to anatomical difficulty and the patient’s unstable condition. She was discharged home 3 weeks after operation, and 2 months postoperatively, she was neurologically intact with no evidence of endoleakage or pseudoaneurysm.

Conclusion

In such a complex polytrauma case, correct prioritization of interventions is crucial to obtaining the best outcomes, and the Endovascular Resuscitation and Trauma Management protocol can be applied as an alternative treatment protocol with good results.