Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Case Reports
. 2021 Jul 1;31(4):e213-e215.
doi: 10.1097/JSM.0000000000000787.

Atrial Fibrillation Induced From Commotio Cordis

Ashkan Alkhamisi  1 , Stephen M Carek  2 , Michael C Dillon  3 , James R Clugston  1
Affiliations
Case Reports

Atrial Fibrillation Induced From Commotio Cordis

Ashkan Alkhamisi et al. Clin J Sport Med. .

Abstract

Case: A 20-year-old male collegiate basketball player was evaluated for sudden chest pain, shortness of breath, dizziness, and blurry vision, following an elbow to the anterior chest by another player. His symptoms improved over 10 minutes of observation, but rhythm strip performed onsite showed atrial fibrillation, and the athlete was transmitted to the emergency department for further evaluation. Electrocardiogram in the ER confirmed atrial fibrillation with a rate of 85 bpm. Electrocardioversion was being arranged when he spontaneously converted to normal sinus rhythm, 2.5 hours from the traumatic event.

Conclusions: Our case illustrates an unusual example of atrial fibrillation induced by commotio cordis (AFCC). Although less acutely life threatening and much less frequently described than ventricular fibrillation induced by commotio cordis, AFCC should be considered in the differential after blunt chest wall trauma. Currently, there are little data regarding management of patients with AFCC.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors report no conflicts of interest.

References

    1. Link MS. Commotio cordis: ventricular fibrillation triggered by chest impact-induced abnormalities in repolarization. Circ Arrhythm Electrophysiol. 2012;5:425–432.
    1. Maron BJ, Estes NA. Commotio cordis. N Engl J Med. 2010;362:917–927.
    1. Ota K, Bratincsak A. Atrial fibrillation induced by commotio cordis secondary to a blunt chest trauma in a teenage boy. Pediatrics. 2015;135:e199–e201.
    1. Link MS, Maron BJ, VanderBrink BA, et al. Impact directly over the cardiac silhouette is necessary to produce ventricular fibrillation in an experimental model of commotio cordis. J Am Coll Cardiol. 2001;37:649–654.
    1. Link MS, Maron BJ, Wang PJ, et al. Upper and lower limits of vulnerability to sudden arrhythmic death with chest-wall impact (commotio cordis). J Am Coll Cardiol. 2003;41:99.

Publication types