Managing blunt cardiac injury

Abstract

Blunt cardiac injury (BCI) encompasses a spectrum of pathologies ranging from clinically silent, transient arrhythmias to deadly cardiac wall rupture. Of diagnosed BCIs, cardiac contusion is most common. Suggestive symptoms may be unrelated to BCI, while some injuries may be clinically asymptomatic. Cardiac rupture is the most devastating complication of BCI. Most patients who sustain rupture of a heart chamber do not reach the emergency department alive. The incidence of BCI following blunt thoracic trauma remains variable and no gold standard exists to either diagnose cardiac injury or provide management. Diagnostic tests should be limited to identifying those patients who are at risk of developing cardiac complications as a result of cardiac in jury. Therapeutic interventions should be directed to treat the complications of cardiac injury. Prompt, appropriate and well-orchestrated surgical treatment is invaluable in the management of the unstable patients.