[Heart injury following closed thoracic injury]

Secondary left ventricular injury with haemopericardium caused by a rib fracture after blunt chest trauma

Trauma is the third most common cause of death in the West. In the US, approximately 90,000 deaths annually are traumatic in nature and over 75% of casualties from blunt trauma are due to chest injuries. Cardiac injuries from rib fractures following blunt trauma are extremely rare. We report the unusual case of a patient who fell from a height and presented with haemopericardium and haemothorax as a result of left ventricular and lingular lacerations and was sucessfully operated upon.

[Right atrial rupture following a hoof kick to the chest wall]

Several myocardial lesions can be induced by thoracic blunt trauma. It varies from myocardial lesions to heart rupture. We report a case of right atrial rupture due to unusual blunt trauma: a hoof kick. We describe a successful management of this case. We suggest that a diagnosis of cardiac chamber rupture should be considered in all cases of blunt thoracic trauma.