Acute subclavian steal syndrome following blunt thoracic trauma.

Injury of the subclavian artery following trauma is an uncommon finding. Hughes (1958) reported 304 vascular injuries in Korean war casualties but in only three of these was rupture of the subclavian artery documented. Chandler and Knapp (1967) reported the operative repair of 126 vascular injuries in 118 casualties in Vietnam. Only one subclavian artery injury was found, an incidence of 0-8 %. The reported experience with civilian injuries of the subclavian artery is limited. Carlsson and Silander (1963) described two cases of right traumatic subclavian aneurysm. Brawley, Murray, Crisler, and Cameron (1970), reporting 20 injuries involving the great vessels arising from the aortic arch, found 12 subclavian lesions. DeMeules, Cramer and Perry (1971) described 15 injuries of the aortic arch and great vessels. Two subclavian lacerations were reported in this group. We report a case of acute subclavian steal syndrome following blunt thoracic trauma treated by aortosubclavian Dacron bypass prosthesis.