A case report of cardiac tamponade following blunt chest trauma

Abstract

Cardiac tamponade due to blunt chest trauma is a rare entity. Traumatic cardiac tamponade is a life threatening and time-critical emergency that requires early recognition and prompt management often alongside other resuscitative considerations. Structural cardiac injuries including chamber or vessel rupture carry a high mortality rate and patients usually die at scene or intransit. The small remainders of patients who survive to hospital have tears under relatively low pressures and immediate diagnosis and surgery can help the survival. High grade of clinical suspicion is required. Any patient with severe blunt chest trauma, disproportionate hypotension that is not responding to fluid resuscitation along with elevated central venous pressures should be thoroughly evaluated for cardiac tamponade. CASE REPORT