Ladder-rung tears of aorta - An unusual presentation of medico-legal significance

Abstract

Ladder-rung tears have been described in the literature as multiple superficial parallel intimal tears in the aorta. They are mostly  associated with a road traffic accident. The isthmus part of the thoracic aorta is more vulnerable to this injury as it is tethered. This  injury is also more common with old age due to weakness of the vascular walls with the advancement of age. Multiple mechanisms  have been proposed in the literature based on different principles of biomechanics. We report an autopsy case of road traffic accident  with ladder-rung tears in abdominal aorta in young motorcyclist, which is a rare occurrence, along with a review of possible  mechanisms of aortic injuries in road traffic accidents.