Case
A 38-year-old Jehovah’s Witness female with situs inversus totalis,
restrictive cardiomyopathy and end stage renal failure was referred to
our hospital for evaluation for heart failure therapy. She complained of
progressive dyspnea on exertion, palpitations and orthopnea. Her
condition was diagnosed as acute decompensated biventricular heart
failure. Her hemodynamic data was as follows. Central venous pressure
was 18 mmHg, mean pulmonary artery pressure was 50 mmHg, pulmonary
capillary wedge pressure was 38 mmHg and her cardiac index was 1.7
L/min/m2. An axillary IABP was considered to be a good option for
circulatory support, which would allow her to perform physical therapy
actively during evaluation for the next phase of her care. Initially,
her IABP insertion was successfully performed through her right axillary
artery in a percutaneous fashion (Figure 1A). Of note, her right
axillary artery is the third cervical branch from aorta(first branch;
left brachiocephalic artery, second branch; right common carotid
artery). However, the IABP kinked and ruptured three days later(Figure
1B). While we tried to exchange it in the operating room, she suddenly
complained of acute back pain and difficulty breathing. She remained
hemodynamically stable, but we were concerned about a possible aortic
complication. The IABP insertion was deferred and she was taken for a
computed tomography angiography(CTA). CTA demonstrated a descending
thoracic aortic rupture and contrast extravasation at the take-off of
the right vertebral artery from the right axillary resulting in a large
hematoma behind the trachea(Figure 2A,B,3A,B). The trachea was
significantly compressed by the hematoma(Figure 2A). Open descending
aorta replacement was considered to be too invasive as she refused any
blood transfusion and was anemic(10.5mg/dl). Therefore, thoracic
endovascular aortic repair(TEVAR) was felt to be a reasonable treatment
modality. Under general anesthesia, a 22×100 mm Valiant Navion Covered
Seal device(Medtronic Corp,Santa Rosa,CA) was selected and deployed from
just distal to the right subclavian artery. Moreover, coiling of the
right vertebral artery and placement of a 7mm×50mm Viabahn covered
stent(WL Gore & Associates,Flagstaff,Ariz) into the right axillary
artery was successfully performed without any need for blood
transfusion. Her postoperative course was stable and her heart failure
improved as well.
Although her hemoglobin level decreased to 6.7mg/dl four days after the
rupture, it returned to baseline one month later. A postoperative CTA
demonstrated resolution of the extravasation and improvement of the
hematoma behind the trachea(Figure 2C,D, 3C,D).