Synergy between stents and extracorporeal membrane oxygenation in multitrauma patients with inferior vena cava injury

Abstract

Despite the lack of evidence in the literature, we report the case of a 25-year-old man involved in a road traffic accident, who had an inferior vena cava (IVC) injury and severe lung contusion with parenchymal bleeding requiring an extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO). An emergency procedure to implant a stent graft was successful in repairing the IVC injury. Moreover, we think that ECMO, in addition to providing oxygenation, reduced bleeding by creating a negative pressure along the injured IVC. The patient was decannulated on the eighth day and discharged 31 days after the accident. © The Author 2013. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the European Association for Cardio-Thoracic Surgery. All rights reserved.