Citation

Siegel T, Vaughan T, Papadakos PJ. J. Trauma 1994; 36(6): 904-905.

Affiliation

Department of Surgery, University of Rochester, School of Medicine and Dentistry, New York 14642.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1994, Lippincott Williams and Wilkins)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

8015020

Abstract

Before 1955 blunt traumatic ruptures of the heart and pericardium were reported almost exclusively in autopsy reports. Since then, because of improved prehospital care and early triage, it has been demonstrated that injuries resulting in rupture of the heart and pericardium are no longer always fatal. We present a case of a patient who arrived at the hospital with increasing abdominal girth and a tender abdomen who on exploration was found to have a tear of the pericardium and atrial appendage compounded by a supradiaphragmatic tear of the inferior vena cava.

Language: en