Cardiac Contusions

Biochemical markers of myocardial contusion after blunt chest trauma

One of the most common manifestations of cardiac injury because of trauma is myocardial contusion. Today, the blurred definition and wide range of nonspecific clinical presentations led to absence in consensus of diagnostic pathways and criteria. Currently, the marker of cardiac injury measured at clinical level is troponin and instrumental diagnostic tool is ECG. The patients with elevated troponin level after the chest trauma should be suspected to have myocardial contusion as cardiogenic shock or arrhythmia might take place as a complication. The release of DAMPs after the trauma has been observed as a part of inflammatory response to it. HMGB1 protein and histone levels were found to be elevated in patients with trauma and associated to recruit the inflammation. In this review the potential of these molecules to be used as diagnostic markers of myocardial contusion is discussed. Moreover, the obstacles for implementing DAMPS to clinical protocols and future research directions are included.

Blunt and Penetrating Cardiac Trauma

Patients with traumatic cardiac injuries can present with wide variability in their severity of illness. The most severe will present in cardiac arrest, whereas the most benign may be altogether asymptomatic; most will fall somewhere in between. Management of cardiac injuries largely depends on mechanism of injury and patient physiology. Understanding the spectrum of injuries and their associated manifestations can help providers react more quickly and initiate potentially life-saving therapies more efficiently when time is critical. This article discusses the workup and management of both blunt and penetrating cardiac injuries.