RESUMO
A case of a 46-year-old car driver struck with great force by a tram through the driver's door is presented. The main trauma consisted in chest injury with multi-rib fracture along with rupture and dissection of the thoracic aorta. Immediate medical rescue actions consisted only in procedures necessary to support vital functions; the patient survived owing to being promptly transported to the Emergency Department to undergo thoracotomy and laparotomy with massive blood transfusion. Polytrauma angio-CT scan revealed a posttraumatic thoracic aorta lesion which in turn was treated by deployment of an endovascular thoracic stent graft. This way, the immediate risk of death was averted, and the remaining traumatic lesions and conditions could be treated. Patient was discharged to a Rehabilitation Center on the 49th day of treatment. The authors stress that trauma resulting from accidents with this particular mechanism, i.e. lateral car crash on the driver's side with the driver's door being staved in by the tram, should be managed by immediate transport of the patient to the Emergency Center. In such cases early drainage of the pleural cavity can deteriorate patient's status by increasing the bleeding from the ruptured aorta.