NCJ Number
187190
Journal
Journal of Forensic Sciences Volume: 46 Issue: 1 Dated: January 2001 Pages: 171-172
Date Published
January 2001
Length
2 pages
Annotation
This paper describes a case of cardiac rupture following blunt trauma, with no additional injuries and a lack of clinical symptoms.
Abstract
A 16-year-old boy, who was injured by a falling soccer goal post in the school yard, was taken to a peripheral hospital by an ambulance. Besides abrasions at the back of the waist, contusion and abrasion at the front inside of the left thigh, no pathological signs were found. Radiological examination of the neck and chest were performed, but he died before any surgical procedure could be done. To clarify the exact cause of death, the deceased was autopsied. The autopsy examination found multiple ruptures of the pericardium and all chambers of the heart as well as the thoracic aorta. There are a few accepted etiological mechanisms of blunt cardiac rupture. A direct mechanism is a blow injury to the front part of the chest. It occurs at the end of the diastole when the ventricle is most distended; this is believed to be the most common cause of ventricular rupture. An indirect mechanism operates when a blow to the abdomen or lower extremities increases the intrathoracic pressure and causes the cardiac rupture. This was apparently what happened in the case at issue. 9 references