Late Erosion of the Aorta after Dorsal-Ventral Care of a L1 Fracture with Prominent Chip Position.

Abstract

Due to results of biomechanical examinations, the dorsal-ventral stabilization of thoracic spine and lumbar spine fractures is an acknowledged method. Different possible complications - among them life-threatening ones- of this method have been published already. We will discuss a complex case wherein an erosion of the aorta led to an acute hemorrhagic shock symptomatology 98 days after primary dorsal-ventral care. Retrospectively, an already close contact of the aorta to the pressed-in chip could be identified as the reason in a postoperative CT control after ventral care. However, due to a postoperative course of infection the chip position has been accepted as such and not been changed. But this difficult and complex etiopatology has shown that chip and respectively material positions with contact to adjacent soft tissue structure are not acceptable.