What are the clinical findings with aortic rupture?
The most common symptoms of traumatic aortic rupture include chest pain, dyspnea, back pain, hoarseness, dysphagia, and cough. Clinical signs of possible aortic injury include unexplained hypotension, upper limb hypertension, acute coarctation syndrome (decreased lower limb pulses with normal upper limb pulses), a systolic murmur audible over the base of the heart or between the scapulae, and a palpable supraclavicular hematoma. How useful is chest radiography in the evaluation of suspected aortic rupture? Chest radiography remains a valuable tool in excluding the diagnosis of aortic rupture in some cases. Most patients with aortic injuries will exhibit radiographic signs of mediastinal hemorrhage, which is associated with aortic injury. This type of hemorrhage is not usually from the aortic injury itself but the result of mediastinal bleeding from blunt or deceleration injury to the mediastinal venous structures. An upright posteroanterior (PA) chest x-ray is superior to a supine ante
