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Cardiac Injuries: A Review of Multidetector Computed Tomography Findings
Ameya Jagdish Baxi1, Carlos Restrepo1, Amy Mumbower1
1Department of Radiology, University of Texas Health Science Center, San Antonio, USA.
Insights
Cardiac trauma, a significant cause of death in young adults, is effectively diagnosed using multidetector computed tomography (MDCT). MDCT offers a comprehensive, noninvasive approach to identify cardiac injuries and their complications, crucial for hemodynamically unstable patients.
Area of Science:
- Emergency Medicine
- Radiology
- Trauma Surgery
Background:
- Trauma is a leading cause of mortality in the younger population in the United States.
- Cardiac trauma, resulting from blunt or penetrating chest injuries, is associated with substantial morbidity and mortality.
- Clinical signs of cardiac injury can be obscured by concurrent injuries, necessitating reliable diagnostic tools.
Purpose of the Study:
- To review and discuss the multidetector computed tomography (MDCT) findings in patients with cardiac trauma.
- To highlight the advantages of MDCT in diagnosing cardiac injuries and their complications.
Main Methods:
- Review of multidetector computed tomography (MDCT) findings related to cardiac trauma.
- Comparison of MDCT with other imaging modalities such as chest radiographs, echocardiography, and magnetic resonance imaging.
Main Results:
- Multidetector computed tomography (MDCT) provides high spatial, contrast, and temporal resolution for cardiac imaging.
- MDCT is a noninvasive and universally available tool for diagnosing cardiac injuries.
- MDCT effectively identifies complications associated with cardiac trauma.
Conclusions:
- Multidetector computed tomography (MDCT) is the imaging modality of choice for evaluating patients with cardiac injuries, particularly those with hemodynamic instability.
- MDCT serves as a comprehensive diagnostic tool for cardiac trauma, offering a "one-stop shop" for diagnosis and complication assessment.
Abstract:
Trauma is the leading cause of death in United States in the younger population. Cardiac trauma is common following blunt chest injuries and is associated with high morbidity and mortality. This study discusses various multidetector computed tomography (MDCT) findings of cardiac trauma. Cardiac injuries are broadly categorized into the most commonly occurring blunt cardiac injury and the less commonly occurring penetrating injury. Signs and symptoms of cardiac injury can be masked by the associated injuries. Each imaging modality including chest radiographs, echocardiography, magnetic resonance imaging and MDCT has role in evaluating these patients. However, MDCT is noninvasive; universally available and has a high spatial, contrast, and temporal resolution. It is a one stop shop to diagnose and evaluate complications of cardiac injury. MDCT is an imaging modality of choice to evaluate patients with cardiac injuries especially the injuries capable of causing hemodynamic instability.
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