Harefuah
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Two cases of severe hepatic injury in which selective hepatic artery embolization was used to control hemorrhage are presented. The first case is that of a 35 year old patient who sustained a severe liver injury after a car accident. A CAT scan of the abdomen revealed an AAST grade 5 liver injury, pooling of contrast material within the liver parenchyma, and blood within the peritoneal cavity. ⋯ The abdominal cavity was closed and the patient was taken to the ICU for the correction of hypothermia, metabolic acidosis, and coagulopathy that had developed during the surgery. After 8 hours in the ICU the patient was transferred for angiography and a selective embolization of branches of the right hepatic artery was performed. The clinical course of the patients after angiographic embolization of the hepatic arteries is described and the literature that discusses the use of angiography and embolization of hepatic arteries after traumatic hepatic bleeding is reviewed.