title: Cardiac injuries caused by blunt trauma: an autopsy based assessment of the injury pattern.
abstract: Nonpenetrating chest trauma with injury to the heart and aorta has become increasingly common, particularly as a result of rapid deceleration in high-speed vehicular accidents, over the past 2-3 decades. The high mortality rate of cardiac injuries and possible late onset complications make blunt cardiac injuries an important challenging point for legal medicine. One hundred and ninety cases with blunt cardiac injuries in a period of 3 years were analyzed retrospectively in terms of patterns of cardiac injury, survival times, and demographic profiles of the cases in this study.
authors.affiliation: Council of Forensic Medicine, Ministry of Justice, Istanbul, Turkey. arzu_turantr@yahoo.com
authors.forename: Arzu Akcay
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Turan
authors.forename: Ferah Anik
authors.initials: FA
authors.lastname: Karayel
authors.forename: Elif
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Akyildiz
authors.forename: Isil
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Pakis
authors.forename: Ibrahim
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Uzun
authors.forename: Kagan
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Gurpinar
authors.forename: Umit
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Atilmis
authors.forename: Ziya
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Kir
mesh_terms: D000058:Accidental Falls / Q000401:mortality; D000063:Accidents, Traffic / Q000401:mortality; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005107:Explosions; D005260:Female; D049429:Forensic Pathology; D006335:Heart Injuries / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D014754:Violence / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D014949:Wounds, Nonpenetrating / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology*; D055815:Young Adult