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Isolated pericardial rupture with left-sided haematothorax after blunt chest trauma
1Department of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, Academic Hospital Nijmegen St. Radboud, The Netherlands.
Abstract:
Pericardial rupture after blunt chest trauma is described in the literature. The rupture is mostly caused by high velocity trauma with associated injuries. As a result the patients are often critically ill. We describe a case of a 59-year-old man who suffered from an isolated pericardial rupture with a left-sided haematothorax diagnosed 3 months after minimal blunt chest trauma. The patient was operated upon and the defect was closed without detrimental sequelae.