INTRODUCTION The use of guidelines regarding the termination or withholding of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) in traumatic cardiac arrest patients remains controversial. This study aimed to describe the outcomes for victims of penetrating and blunt trauma who received prehospital CPR. METHODS We conducted a retrospective review of a statewide major trauma registry using data from 2001 to...

Studies have shown that p38 MAPK and nitric oxide (NO), generated by endothelial NO synthase (eNOS), play key roles under physiological and pathophysiological conditions. Although administration of 17beta-estradiol (E2) protects cardiovascular injury from trauma-hemorrhage, the mechanism by which E2 produces those effects remains unknown. Our objective was to determine whether the E2-mediated a...

Six examples of cardiac damage secondary to non-penetrating trauma in road accidents are described. In all six cases the lesion was not recognised at the time of the accident but became clinically important two days to 17 years later. As the patients were young or had unusual lesions, the damage could be attributed to the accident. In older patients with common cardiac problems the trauma might...

BACKGROUND Pneumopericardium is a rare complication following thoracic trauma, and urgent treatment is rendered necessary when it causes tension pneumopericardium due to cardiac tamponade. CASE REPORT The case presented here is a right pericardial laceration with tension pneumopericardium due to falling from a height, presenting to the emergency clinic of our hospital with hemodynamic instabi...

Pleuropericarditis has been described in many patients after a variety of cardiac insults, including infarction and surgery or trauma to the heart. The syndrome of fever, pleural effusion, chest pain, and an elevated sedimentation rate after cardiac injury is referred to as the postcardiac injury syndrome (PCIS). PCIS actually includes two distinct entities, the postmyocardial infarction syndro...

Background High-energy blunt chest injury will bring out severe cardiac and pulmonary injuries. It may cause cardiac contusion, rupture, cardiac valve dysfunction, and aortic laceration [1]. As traumatic hemopericardium occurs, ultrasound is a convenient and reliable tool for diagnosis. We presented a 55-year-old male victim of blunt chest trauma complicated with hemopericardium, cardiac tampon...

Post-cardiac injury syndrome (PCIS) is an inflammatory process involving the pericardium secondary to cardiac injury. It can develop after cardiac trauma, cardiac surgery, myocardial infarction, and, rarely, after certain intravascular procedures. We report a rare case of an iatrogenic cardiac rupture followed by PCIS with delayed inflammatory pericardial effusion after pacemaker implantation. ...

Chest trauma can lead to various cardiac complications ranging from simple arrhythmias to myocardial rupture. A variety of injuries to the coronary arteries, including laceration, thrombosis, intimal dissection, arteriovenous fistula and pseudoaneurysm formation following blunt trauma have been rarely reported. We report a very unusual case of distal embolization of left ventricular thrombus du...

Cardiac tamponade resulting from hemopericardium after a thoracic trauma is a relatively common occurrence. We report on 2 cases of extrapericardial cardiac tamponade, a condition that is definitely less common although potentially life threatening. Both patients underwent sternotomic cardiac decompression and were transferred to ICU: the first patient died of neurological damage, the second pa...

Accepted for publication 15 May 1997 Blunt, non-penetrating trauma to the heart and great vessels occurs most commonly following road traffic accidents. Other causes include direct blows to the chest, falls from great heights, sporting and industrial injuries, and kicks by animals. The potential mechanisms by which blunt chest trauma can result in cardiac and aortic injury have been described a...