The Acute Hemorrhagic Mediastinum

The interesting paper by Lui et al. reports a case of spontaneous aorto-esophageal fistula, which we consider a typical example of ‘acute hemorrhagic mediastinum’, a syndrome that we identified on the basis of few clinical signs: a severe external hemorrhage, hematemesis or hemoptysis, sometimes accompanied by an acute thoracic pain, or a sudden respiratory insufficiency.1 It differs from other acute mediastinal diseases, i n particular the superior vena cava syndrome, characterized by a venous congestion; the acute mediastinitis, with prevalent infectious signs; and the pneumo-mediastinum, for the absence of properly respiratory signs.
Source: Annals of Vascular Surgery - Category: Surgery Authors: Tags: Correspondence Source Type: research