Cardiac laceration from blunt thoracic trauma is not a common presentation. The rate of mortality due to this injury is very high since it is not diagnosed and treated immediately. In this study, we present the case of a 65-year-old man with blunt cardiac trauma, causing right atrial rupture and pericardial tamponade. Successful management of this patient was firstly done with initial pericardi...

INTRODUCTION Electrocardiogram (ECG) abnormalities in patients with blunt chest trauma are diverse and non-specific, but may be indicative of potentially life-threatening conditions. CASE PRESENTATION We report a rare case of pneumopericardium with extreme ECG abnormalities after blunt chest trauma in a 22-year-old male. The diagnosis was confirmed using computed tomography (CT) scanning. The...

BACKGROUND Supine anteroposterior (AP) chest radiography may not detect the presence of a small or medium pneumothorax (PTX) in trauma patients. OBJECTIVES To compare the sensitivity and specificity of bedside ultrasound (US) in the emergency department (ED) with supine portable AP chest radiography for the detection of PTX in trauma patients, and to determine whether US can grade the size of...

Displaced rib fractures as the result of blunt chest trauma impairs chest wall mechanics, causes severe pain, and results in prolonged mechanical ventilation. Rib fixation plates have been developed and manufactured for use in adult patients with improved outcomes over expectant management. The authors report the first case of rib fixation using titanium plates in a child after sustaining signi...

BACKGROUND Unnecessary diagnostic imaging leads to higher costs, longer emergency department stays, and increased patient exposure to ionizing radiation. We sought to prospectively derive and validate two decision instruments (DIs) for selective chest computed tomography (CT) in adult blunt trauma patients. METHODS AND FINDINGS From September 2011 to May 2014, we prospectively enrolled blunt ...

traumatic injuries to great vessels are relative common in trauma practice. blunt thoracic trauma may result in dissection injury to aorta and innominate artery. we herein present a late presentation of traumatic innominate artery aneurysm. a29-year-old woman presented with dyspnea to our emergency department. she had previous motor-vehicle accident a month before presentation for which had und...