HEART TRAUMA: MYOCARDIAL INVOLVEMENT (CONTUSION) FOLLOWING A NON-PENETRATING INJURY TO THE CHEST (AIRPLANE ACCIDENT)
Authors: H H HECHT
Journal: Annals of Internal Medicine (1947)

Case Reports1 July 1947HEART TRAUMA: MYOCARDIAL INVOLVEMENT (CONTUSION) FOLLOWING A NON-PENETRATING INJURY TO THE CHEST (AIRPLANE ACCIDENT)HANS H. HECHT, M.D.HANS H. HECHT, M.D.Author, Article, and Disclosure Informationhttps://doi.org/10.7326/0003-4819-27-1-126 SectionsAboutPDF ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack CitationsPermissions ShareFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail ExcerptA number of recent reviews have pointed to the apparent frequency with which non-penetrating injuries to the chest are complicated by lesions of the heart.1-6In most of the earlier reports the injury to the heart was striking, immediate, and either fatal or incapacitating. In others severe cardiac failure, conduction disturbances or rupture of the myocardium occurred after a relatively silent period.†The subject has become increasingly important from the standpoint of industrial5, 8, 9, 10, 11and military3, 4, 12-15compensation. The use of early and repeated electrocardiographic examinations has been stressed as being necessary in the presence of...Bibliography1. BRIGHTBECK EFCS: Non-penetrating wounds of the heart, Am. Heart Jr., 1935, x, 293. CrossrefGoogle Scholar2. BARBER H: Trauma of the heart, Brit. Med. Jr., 1938, i, 433. CrossrefGoogle Scholar3a. WARBURG E: Subacute and chronic pericardial and myocardial lesions due to nonpenetrating traumatic injuries, 1938, Oxford University Press, London. b. WARBURG, E.: Myocardial and pericardial lesions due to non-penetrating injury, Brit. Heart Jr., 1940, ii, 271. Google Scholar4a. SIGLER LH: Trauma of the heart due to nonpenetrating chest injuries, Jr. Am. Med. Assoc., 1942, cxix, 855. b. SIGLER, L. H.: Traumatic injury of the heart, Am. Heart Jr., 1945, xxx, 459. CrossrefGoogle Scholar5. AHRENBERG H: Traumatic heart disease: a clinical study of 250 cases of nonpenetrating chest injuries and their relation to cardiac disability, Ann. Int. Med., 1943, xix, 326. Google Scholar6. BARBER H: The effects of trauma, direct and indirect, on the heart, Quart. Jr. Med., 1944, xiii, 137. Google Scholar7. JOACHIMMAYS HAT: A case of cardiac aneurysm probably of traumatic origin, Am. Heart Jr., 1926-27, ii, 682. Google Scholar8. KESSLER HH: Accidental injuries, 2nd ed., 1941, Lea and Febiger, Philadelphia. Google Scholar9a. LEINOFF HD: Direct nonpenetrating injuries of the heart, Ann. Int. Med., 1940, xiv, 653. b. LEINOFF, H. D.: Acute coronary thrombosis in industry, Arch. Int. Med., 1942, lxx, 33. Google Scholar10. FOSTER RF: The relation of trauma to heart disease, Indust. Med., 1938, vii, 258. Google Scholar11. ANDERSON RG: Nonpenetrating injuries of the heart, Brit. Med. Jr., 1940, ii, 307. CrossrefGoogle Scholar12. FORESEESHEFTSBURBANKFITZPATRICKBURFORD JALMBLJTH: The management of thoracic war injuries, Jr. Lab. and Clin. Med., 1943, xxviii, 418. Google Scholar13. WILSON JV: The pathology of closed injuries of the chest, Brit. Med. Jr., 1943, i, 470. CrossrefGoogle Scholar14. LEEUSSHERHOUCH RVNTGH: Acute traumatic heart disease, Am. Jr. Med. Sci., 1943, ccvi, 722. CrossrefGoogle Scholar15. LEAVELL BS: Acute heart failure following blast injuries, War Med., 1945, vii, 162. Google Scholar16. HARTWELLBURRETTGRAYBIELWHITE ASJBAPD: The effects of exercise and of four commonly used drugs on the normal human electrocardiogram, with particular reference to T wave changes, Jr. Clin. Invest., 1942, xxi, 409. CrossrefGoogle Scholar17. WHITECHAMBERLAINGRAYBIEL PDFLA: Inversion of the T waves in Lead II caused by a variation in the position of the heart, Brit. Heart Jr., 1941, iii, 233. CrossrefGoogle Scholar18. WILSONJOHNSTONMACLEODBARKER FNFDAGPS: Electrocardiograms that represent the potential variations of a single electrode, Am. Heart Jr., 1934, ix, 447. CrossrefGoogle Scholar19. WILSONJOHNSTONROSENBAUMERLANGERKOSSMANNHECHTCOTRIMMENEZES DE OLIVEIRASCARSIBARKER FNFDFFHCEHNRRPS: The precordial electrocardiogram, Am. Heart Jr., 1944, xxvii, 19. CrossrefGoogle Scholar20. MORITZATKINS ARJP: Cardiac contusion, Arch. Path., 1938, xxv, 445. Google Scholar21. BOYDSCHERF LJD: El electrocardiograma en las injurias epicárdicas, endocârdicas (y miocârdicas subyacentes) localizadas, Rev. argent. de cardiol., 1940, vii, 1. Google Scholar22. SCHLOMKA G: Commotio cordis und ihre Folgen, Ergebn. d. inn. Med. u. Kinderh., 1934, xlvii, 1. Google Scholar23. KISSANEFIDLERKOONS RWRSRA: Electrocardiographic changes following external chest injuries to dogs, Ann. Int. Med., 1937, xi, 907. Google Scholar24. SCHERFTERRANOVA DR: Estudio electrocardiogrâfico de las desviaciones del segmento ST en las contusiones torâcicas experimentales, Rev. argent. de cardiol., 1942, ix, 157. Google Scholar25. FOREROSILVASAFFIE ABF: Estudio electrocardiografico y anatomico del traumatismo precordial experimental, Rev. argent. de cardiol., 1944, xi, 77. Google Scholar26. KRUMBHAARCROWELL EBC: Spontaneous rupture of the heart, Am. Jr. Med. Sci., 1925 clxx, 828. CrossrefGoogle Scholar27. BOAS EP: Angina pectoris and cardiac infarction from trauma or unusual effort, Jr. Am. Med. Assoc., 1939, cxii, 1887. CrossrefGoogle Scholar28. SCHMINCKE A: Beitrag zur traumatischen Aetiologie der Arteriosklerose, Deutsch. Arch. f. klin. Med., 1925, cxlix, 145. Google Scholar29. KIENLE F: Klinische und electrokardiographische Beobachtungen bei traumatischem Hinterwand Infarkt, Ztschr. f. Kreislaufforsch., 1938, xxx, 674. Google Scholar30. BOAS EP: Some immediate causes of cardiac infarction, Am. Heart Jr., 1942, xxiii, 1. CrossrefGoogle Scholar31. JEKLGREENSTEIN EJ: Fatal coronary sclerosis in a boy of 10 years, Lancet, 1944, ii, 5, 659. Google Scholar32. WEARN JT in discussion to BECK, C. S.: Contusion of the heart, Jr. Am. Med. Assoc., 1935, civ, 114. Google Scholar33a. MASTERDACKJAFFE AMSHL: Activities associated with the onset of acute coronary artery occlusion, Am. Heart Jr., 1939, xviii, 434. b. MASTER, A. M.: Letter to the editor, Jr. Am. Med. Assoc., 1942, cxx, 392. c. MASTER, A. M.: Letter to the editor, Jr. Am. Med. Assoc., 1945, cxxix, 90. CrossrefGoogle Scholar34. VIKO LE: Personal communication: a 38 year old man was hit by a golf ball over the lower part of the sternum and died 3 days later with signs and symptoms of recent coronary occlusion. A fresh thrombus was found in the anterior descending branch of the left coronary artery. There was no evidence of atheromatous changes in any other vessel examined. See also a similar case, often cited: Queries and Minor Notes, Jr. Am. Med. Assoc., 1933, ci, 1503. Google Scholar35. WILSONHILLJOHNSTON FNIGFD: The form of the electrocardiogram in experimental myocardial infarction. III. The later effects produced by ligation of the anterior descending branch of the left coronary artery, Am. Heart Jr., 1935, x, 903. CrossrefGoogle Scholar36. WILSONJOHNSTONHILL FNFDIG: The form of the electrocardiogram in experimental myocardial infarction. IV. Additional observations on the later effects produced by ligation of the anterior descending branch of the left coronary artery, Am. Heart Jr., 1935, x, 1025. CrossrefGoogle Scholar37. BARBER H: Electrocardiographic changes due to trauma, Brit. Heart Jr., 1942, iv, 83. CrossrefGoogle Scholar38. DAVENPORTMARKLE GLP: The electrocardiogram in stabwounds of the heart, Jr. Thorac. Surg., 1933-34, ii, 376. Google Scholar39. NOTH PH: Electrocardiographic patterns in penetrating wounds of the heart, Proc. Am. Fed. Clin. Res., 1944, i, 49; Am. Heart Jr., 1946, xxxii, 713. Google Scholar40. LANGENDORFGOLDBERG RS: The electrocardiogram in traumatic pericarditis, Am. Heart Jr., 1942, xxiv, 412. CrossrefGoogle Scholar41. BURCHELLBARNESMANN HBARFC: The electrocardiographic picture of experimental localized pericarditis, Am. Heart Jr., 1939, xviii, 133. CrossrefGoogle Scholar42. BAYLEYLADUEYORK RHJSDJ: Electrocardiographic changes (local ventricular ischemia and injury) produced in the dog by temporary occlusion of a coronary artery showing a new stage in the evolution of myocardial infarction, Am. Heart Jr., 1944, xxvii, 164. CrossrefGoogle Scholar43. WHITEGLENDY PDRE in BRAHDY, L. and KAHN, S.: Trauma and disease, 1937, Lea and Febiger, Philadelphia. Google Scholar This content is PDF only. To continue reading please click on the PDF icon. Author, Article, and Disclosure InformationAffiliations: Salt Lake City, Utah*Received for publication April 4, 1946.From the Department of Medicine, University of Utah Medical School, Salt Lake City, Utah. The case was observed on the wards of the Wm. J. Seymour Hospital, Eloise, Michigan.†Joachim and Mays7 noted a ventricular aneurysm 12 years after a chest injury in a 24 year old man. A similar instance was reported by Hildebrandt (E. Warburg l.c.), in which a ventricular aneurysm was present in a 27 year old individual 18 years after injury. No other cause for the aneurysm was found in either case. Compensation was granted to a man who suffered incapacitating attacks of the Adams-Stokes variety with complete a.v.-block beginning nine months after a chest injury.8 PreviousarticleNextarticle Advertisement FiguresReferencesRelatedDetails Metrics Cited byTransient Right Bundle Branch Block Resulting From a Blunt Cardiac Injury During a Motor Vehicle AccidentCoronary arteriography in dogs following blunt cardiac trauma: A longitudinal assessmentStumpftraumatische Schäden des Herzens und der großen herznahen GefäßeHerzschädigung durch stumpfe GewalteinwirkungNonpenetrating Traumatic Injury of the HeartTransient intraventricular block in cardiac contusionTHE QUESTION OF TRAUMATIC HEART DISEASE*IRA GORE, M.D.Unsuspected Trauma to the Heart during Intrathoracic Surgery 1 July 1947Volume 27, Issue 1Page: 126-134KeywordsAneurysmsElectrocardiographyHeartHeart failureLesionsMyocardiumSaltsThorax ePublished: 1 December 2008 Issue Published: 1 July 1947 PDF downloadLoading ...