[Fatal aorto-esophageal fistula as a late complication of traumatic aortic rupture].

We report on a case of a 23 years old man who was polytraumatized in a car accident. He survived with excellent clinical outcome, but 113 days after the accident he collapsed, massive bleeding out of the mouth started and the patient died within a few minutes. A gastric ulcer bleeding was assumed, but autopsy showed the break-in of a posttraumatic aortic aneurysm into the esophagus. The difficulties of in time diagnosis of thoracic aorta lesions are discussed.