Coeliac artery avulsion secondary to high velocity blunt abdominal trauma: a case report

Coeliac artery (CA) injuries are an extremely rare subset of blunt abdominal trauma with a reported incidence of only 0.01%. Patterns of CA injury include intimal tear, dissection, thrombosis and pseudoaneurysm, with the most rare being complete CA avulsion. These complex injuries pose a treatment challenge due to rapid blood loss and anatomical difficultly in achieving proximal and multiple points of distal vascular control. To our knowledge, this case of CA avulsion from blunt polytrauma is only the 7th case reported in the literature. To assist in management, we report a case of blunt traumatic CA avulsion managed successfully with open ligation following endovascular balloon occlusion of the juxta-coeliac aorta for haemorrhage control.