Commotio cordis, revisited.
Nonpenetrating cardiac injuries due to direct precordial blunt impacts are a commonly encountered phenomenon in medicolegal offices. These injuries vary from contusions to valvular lacerations, or papillary muscle rupture to coronary arterial injury with resulting infarction. A less commonly occurring manifestation of nonpenetrating injury is a concussion of the heart (commotio cordis), often with dramatic physiological consequences but no morphologic cardiac injury. We describe four case reports of this entity. The cases were collected over a 5-year period (1978-1983) from the Wayne County Medical Examiner's Office in Detroit, Michigan.
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D006335:Heart Injuries / Q000209:etiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D014949:Wounds, Nonpenetrating / Q000150:complications*