Blunt cardiac injury (BCI) encompasses a wide spectrum of clinical manifestations,
ranging from an asymptomatic myocardial bruise to cardiac rupture and death [
[1]
]. Blunt injury to the heart is involved in up to 20% of all motor vehicle collision
deaths [
[2]
]. The incidence of BCI in all blunt thoracic trauma patients is approximately 20%;
however, in patients with severe thoracic injury or multiple injuries, the incidence
of BCI may be as high as 76% [
3
,
4
,
5
,
6
,
7
]. No gold standard exists for the diagnosis of BCI. A mechanism of injury consistent
with BCI, combined with altered cardiac function, provides a practical means of diagnosing
BCI. Attention has focused on identifying those patients who will develop complications
as a result of BCI. The difficulty in defining this phenomenon has led to a classification
that defines BCI according to the sequela of the injury: (1) BCI with cardiac free
wall rupture, (2) BCI with septal rupture, (3) BCI with coronary artery injury, (4)
BCI with cardiac failure, (5) BCI with complex arrhythmias, and (6) BCI with minor
ECG or cardiac enzyme abnormalities [
[1]
].To read this article in full you will need to make a payment
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