Heart injury in head-injured adolescents.
Of 19 adolescents (ages 10-18) admitted consecutively because of major blunt-impact trauma, 15 had head injuries (Glasgow coma scales 4-15). Eight had cardiac injury (42%), as demonstrated by cardiac wall-motion studies utilizing ECG-gated radionuclide angiography. Of the head-injured patients, 7 had cardiac injury (47%), and of these, one died in cardiac shock. Significant cardiac injury is known both experimentally and clinically to escape detection by conventional methods and a compromised cardiac output may bode ill for a damaged brain if cerebral perfusion pressure is in jeopardy.
D000293:Adolescent; D001930:Brain Injuries / Q000150:complications*; D002302:Cardiac Output; D002648:Child; D003288:Contusions; D005260:Female; D006335:Heart Injuries / Q000150:complications* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D006801:Humans; D011877:Radionuclide Imaging; D013670:Sodium Pertechnetate Tc 99m
D013670:Sodium Pertechnetate Tc 99m