Blunt Force Thoracic Trauma: A Case Study of Pericardial Rupture and Associated Cardiac Herniation

Abstract

Pericardial rupture, with associated cardiac herniation, is generally fatal. Diagnosis is difficult and frequently missed due to the subtlety of identifying characteristics. We report a case of a left sided pericardial rupture and cardiac herniation resulting from a high speed motorcycle collision. This report describes the course of treatment from the emergent admission to the diagnosis of the pericardial tear to retrospective CT analysis and rupture identification. In addition the difficulties of initial diagnosis, key symptoms, and identification of CT images are presented and discussed.