Successful angiographic embolisation of bleeding into the chest wall after chest drain insertion

Peripheral arterial injuries after blunt or penetrating trauma commonly follow injuries to adjacent soft tissue and bone. The traditional approach to these injuries is by open exploration, with identification and ligation of the bleeding vessel. We describe the case of a type II respiratory failure patient who had an enormous pectoral muscle haematoma following chest drain insertion, in whom the bleeding was only controlled by angiographic embolisation following failure of surgical exploration. 2009 Published by European Association for Cardio-Thoracic Surgery. All rights reserved.