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Fatal delayed hemopericardium and hemothorax following blunt chest trauma

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Abstract

Cardiac injury following blunt chest trauma is common in motor vehicle accidents due to a crush or blast injury. Severe cardiac trauma is associated with a very high mortality. If a cardiac injury develops several weeks after non-penetrating chest trauma, establishing a causal link between the traumatic event and the cardiac injury becomes complicated. This article reports a case of fatal delayed hemopericardium and hemothorax following a motor vehicle accident including blunt chest trauma 34 days prior to death. The cardiac injury was caused by displacement of a sharp irregular fragment of one of the decedents fractured ribs and the primary defect was sealed by blood clots. Subsequent bleeding occurred when the thrombus was displaced. Since the incidence of blunt high-energy chest injuries is relatively high, heart and large vessel injuries must be taken into account and a comprehensive examination needs to be done in order to prevent the delayed development of fatal complications.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Jana Vachová for skillful technical assistance.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Forensic Medicine, University Hospital Ostrava, CZ-708 52, Ostrava, Czech Republic

    Marek Dokoupil, Matěj Uvíra & Petr Handlos

  2. Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, Faculty of Medicine, Ostrava University, CZ-703 00, Ostrava, Czech Republic

    Marek Dokoupil & Eva Mrázková

  3. Department of Forensic Medicine and Medical Law, University Hospital Olomouc, CZ-779 00, Olomouc, Czech Republic

    Klára Marecová

  4. Department of Anatomy, Faculty of Medicine, Masaryk University, CZ-625 00, Brno, Czech Republic

    Marek Joukal

  5. Department of Radiology, Ostrava City Hospital, CZ-728 80, Ostrava, Czech Republic

    Jana Chmelová

Authors
  1. Marek Dokoupil
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  2. Klára Marecová
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  3. Matěj Uvíra
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  4. Marek Joukal
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  7. Petr Handlos
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Correspondence to Petr Handlos.

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Dokoupil, M., Marecová, K., Uvíra, M. et al. Fatal delayed hemopericardium and hemothorax following blunt chest trauma. Forensic Sci Med Pathol 15, 272–275 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12024-018-0069-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12024-018-0069-5

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