Cardiac arrest secondary to subclavian artery injury in blunt chest trauma: A lifesaving emergency surgery in COVID crises

A 25-year-old male vehicle driver had a road traffic accident and sustained a blunt chest injury. His chest x-ray in the emergency department showed left hemithorax opacification. A chest drain Fr32 was inserted, and 1300ml of Blood drained out. While having a computed tomographic scan of the thorax scan, he had a cardiac arrest and after Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) he was transferred to our tertiary care hospital on a mechanical ventilator and massive ionotropic support (adrenaline and noradrenaline) with a blood pressure of 50/24 mmHg. We performed a lifesaving emergency thoracotomy in a supine position with all COVID precautions, as COVID status was not available before hospitalization. After the repair of the Subclavian artery patient recovered completely and was discharged for follow-up in outpatient. •A 25-year-old male driver sustained blunt chest injury.•Chest Ray showed a left hemithorax opacification. Chest drain was inserted that drained 1000 ml of blood.•Patient had cardiac arrest while doing CT scan. He was intubated and put on mechanical ventilation. Inotropes infusion was started patient was transferred to our tertiary care hospital in very unstable condition.•Lifesaving surgery in such emergency condition with full Covid protection gear over the scrub suits is very challenging for surgeon in addition to unfavorable clinical condition of a patient.