Commotio cordis

Sometimes a player drops down dead after being accidentally hit by a ball or another player. This situation which can occur in any contact sports is known as commotio cordis. The sudden hit on the chest causes the heart to stop in ventricular fibrillation. Ventricular fibrillation is a very fast irregular electrical activity of the lower chambers which prevents proper contraction of the heart. The intensity of the blow is not sufficient to cause any damage to the chest wall. No structural damage is noted in the heart as well. If there is a contusion (bruising) of the heart, it will be called contusio cordis. Contusio cordis is associated with damage to the chest wall as well. The rapid rise in left ventricular pressure following the impact possibly results in mechanical activation of the electrical system of the heart producing the lethal heart rhythm abnormality. Left ventricle is the lower muscular chamber of the heart which pumps oxygenated blood to the whole body. Generally, commotio cordis is caused by impact by a ball with a dense solid core like baseball. Balls with non-solid core tend to collapse on contact and absorb most of the impact energy so that commotio cordis is quite rare with impact by an air filled soccer ball. Commotio cordis is more likely to occur in younger individuals, possibly because of greater transmission of the impact energy by a compliant chest wall. 95% of cases occur in adolescent males, with an average age of 14 years. In an experimental study...
Source: Cardiophile MD - Category: Cardiology Authors: Tags: General Cardiology Source Type: blogs