Isolated celiac artery avulsion from blunt abdominal trauma

Abstract

Introduction: Trauma-related celiac artery injuries are a rare and life-threatening pathology that often requires urgent multidisciplinary care. Rarer still are cases of celiac artery avulsion in the setting of blunt trauma. There is little literature describing such injury patterns. The farthest-reaching is a case series by Kronich et al. 2017, which compiles eleven cases. The majority of these injuries were incomplete intimal injuries only appreciated on admission imaging. A further literature review reveals five cases of full avulsions in the setting of blunt trauma. Management varied dramatically among these cases. The multidisciplinary nature of vascular trauma, in combination with new vascular repair techniques provides a paradox of choice regarding acute management in unusual presentations. With intuitional review board approval, we report a case of blunt trauma with complete celiac trunk avulsion in a patient with aberrant visceral vascular anatomy, managed with open exploration and ligation.

Keywords

• Celiac avulsion
• Trauma
• Blunt