From Blunt Cardiac Injury to Heart Transplant Following Motorcycle Collision

We present a case of a healthy 24-year-old man without significant past medical history who was in a motorcycle accident, resulting in sternal fracture and BCI. He was ultimately found to have thrombotic occlusion and dissection of his left anterior descending artery (LAD), requiring mechanical thrombectomy and drug-eluting stent, as well as subsequent hospitalizations and operations due to various complications. It was suspected that he went into ventricular fibrillation and had a second motorcycle collision, resulting in cardiogenic shock. Ultimately, his progression of ischemic cardiomyopathy and mitral regurgitation led to the need for heart transplant. Blunt cardiac injury with myocardial contusion has such a broad range of pathologies. It is essential that patients with these injury patterns raise a high level of suspicion for BCI and are followed closely with appropriate diagnostic testing and rapid intervention for best possible outcomes.PMID:38557253 | DOI:10.1177/00031348241241699
Source: The American Surgeon - Category: Surgery Authors: Source Type: research