Blunt cardiac injury: emergency department diagnosis and management

Abstract

Blunt cardiac injury describes a range of cardiac injury patterns resulting from blunt force trauma to the chest. Due to the multitude of potential anatomical injuries blunt force trauma can cause, the clinical manifestations may range from simple ectopic beats to fulminant cardiac failure and death. Because there is no definitive, gold-standard diagnostic test for cardiac injury, the emergency clinician must utilize an enhanced index of suspicion in the clinical setting combined with an evidence-based diagnostic testing approach in order to arrive at the diagnosis. This review focuses on the clinical cues, diagnostic testing, and clinical manifestations of blunt cardiac injury as well as best-practice management strategies.