title: Restart the heart.
abstract: Early bystander cardiopulmonary resuscitation and rapid defibrillation are the most important factors for favourable outcomes after out of hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA)-as the new American Heart Association/European Resuscitation Council (AHA/ERC) guidelines emphasise. The patient in our case was a healthy young man who had a witnessed cardiac arrest due to a chest collision with the goalkeeper during a football match. Basic life support was immediately provided by his teammates until an automated external defibrillator was brought to the scene. Blunt cardiac injury (BCI) may result in injured myocardium or arrhythmias. Ventricular fibrillation due to BCI in absence of structural cardiac disease is one of the main causes of OHCA in young healthy athletes with high mortality rates. We demonstrate important aspects of the recently released guidelines on cardiac arrest and the chain of survival by the leading societies.
authors.affiliation: Emergency Department, University Hospital Bern, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Karsten
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Klingberg
authors.affiliation: Emergency Department, University Hospital Bern, Switzerland.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Srivastava
mesh_terms: D016887:Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation / Q000379:methods*; D006321:Heart; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D000071956:Myocardial Contusions / Q000150:complications* / Q000401:mortality; D058687:Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest / Q000209:etiology / Q000401:mortality / Q000628:therapy*; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014693:Ventricular Fibrillation / Q000209:etiology / Q000401:mortality; D055815:Young Adult