Summary
Electrocardiographic abnormalities after blunt chest trauma
Alonso Vega L, Gallastegui Menéndez A, Mier Ruiz V, Teja Santamaría C, González Setien S, Cayón Hoyo S
Affiliation of the authors
Servicio de Urgencias. Hospital de Laredo. Laredo. Cantabria, Spain. Servicio del 061. Servicio de Emergencias del Servicio Cántabro de Salud. Cantabria, Spain.
DOI
Quote
Alonso Vega L, Gallastegui Menéndez A, Mier Ruiz V, Teja Santamaría C, González Setien S, Cayón Hoyo S. Electrocardiographic abnormalities after blunt chest trauma. Emergencias. 2011;23:115-8
Summary
Damage to the heart as a result of blunt chest trauma is relatively infrequent, with an
incidence of 10% to 16% depending on the series. Nevertheless, damage can cause
significant life-threatening events if there is rupture of the cardiac free wall, septa, valves
or coronary vessels, or interruption of myocardial circulation and hemodynamic
instability. Cardiac contusion most often occurs as a result of blunt chest trauma in a
traffic accident, caused by direct chest trauma or acceleration/deceleration forces that
affect the heart or, occasionally, the valves. We report a case in which a man taken to our
emergency department after a traffic accident developed transient type 2:1
atrioventricular block along with signs of myocardial infarction. The events resolved
spontaneously.