[Two cases of pericardial rupture due to blunt chest trauma]

We treated two cases of pericardial rupture from blunt chest trauma. Case 1: A 55-year-old male was injured in an automobile accident. He recovered from the left hemothorax by tube drainage. One year and two months after the trauma, a left pericardial rupture was found during an operation for a left diaphragmatic hernia. As the epicardium adhered firmly to the pericardium, the ruptured pericardium was not sutured. Case 2: A 46-year-old man fell from a tree five meters in height. Chest radiography showed multiple right rib fractures, a pelvic fracture, pneumopericardium, and right hemopneumothorax. After four days, we performed a thoracoscopic examination under local anesthesia. The thoracoscopy revealed a rupture as large as an egg in the right pericardium anterior to the phrenic nerve. Judging from the size of the rupture, cardiac luxation was suspected not to have occurred. So the defect was not repaired. These two patients were discharged uneventfully without cardiac luxation. In the future, the accumulation of thoracoscopic findings may provide adequate information for judging the indication of operative repair in pericardial ruptures.