Purpose: To describe the usage of aortic balloon occlusion (ABO), based on a multidisciplinary approach in severe trauma patients, emphasizing the role of the interventional radiologist in primary trauma care.
Methods: We briefly discuss the relevant literature, the technical aspects of ABO in trauma, and a multidisciplinary approach to the bleeding trauma patient. We describe three severely injured trauma patients for whom ABO was part of initial trauma management.
Results: Three severely injured multi-trauma patients were treated by ABO as a bridge to surgery and embolization. The procedures were performed by an interventional radiologist in the early stages of trauma management.
Conclusions: The interventional radiologist and the multidisciplinary team approach can be activated already on severe trauma patient arrival. ABO usage and other endovascular methods are becoming more widely spread, and can be used early in trauma management, without delay, thus justifying the early activation of this multidisciplinary approach.
Keywords: Hemodynamic instability; Intra-aortic balloon occlusion; Multiple trauma; Resuscitative thoracotomy.