Elsevier

Resuscitation

Volume 43, Issue 2, January 2000, Pages 151-153
Resuscitation

Case report
Cardiac rupture by penetration of fractured sternum: a rare complication of cardiopulmonary resuscitation

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0300-9572(99)00137-9Get rights and content

Abstract

We report an 82-year-old man in whom cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) was unsuccessful. The postmortem examination revealed right atrial ruptures and pericardial sac perforation by a fractured sternal edge. Even though CPR-related cardiac rupture is rare, emergency medical staff should be aware of this complication.

Section snippets

Case

An 82-year-old male fell asleep after complaining of chest discomfort after copulation with his wife. Initially, he was breathing normally. Twenty minutes later, he began gasping, and his wife called the Emergency Service. The ambulance team arrived 10 min later and confirmed cardiac arrest. They started both chest compression and manual ventilation. His gasping disappeared just before their arrival. Unfortunately, it took 20 min to transfer the patient to our emergency center because his

Discussion

We report here a rare case of cardiac rupture with a fractured sternum during CPR.

We concluded that the patient experienced cardiac arrest with acute myocardial infarction. The cardiac rupture occurred as a result of direct penetration of the fractured sternum, because the tears on both the right atrium and the pericardial sac were underneath the pointed sternal edge. Moreover, no other cardiac rupture was observed on the surface of the heart. Cardiac rupture or pericardial hematoma related to

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