PENETRATING TRAUMA TO THE HEART - A RELATIVELY INNOCENT INJURY

Background. The purpose of this study was to examine the mortality rat e of penetrating cardiac trauma in a large urban hospital. Methods. Th is was a retrospective study over a period of 5 years and 5 months of all patients admitted alive with a stab or a gunshot cardiac injury. R esults. There were 310 patients with a stab wound and 63 with a gunsho t wound. The overall mortality rate was 19%. The mortality rates for t he stab and the gunshot groups were 13% and 50.7%, respectively. In th e 296 patients with a cardiac stab wound confined to a single chamber and with no other associated extracardiac injury the mortality rate wa s 8.5%. Conclusions. An isolated cardiac stab wound is a relatively in nocent injury in a patient at a hospital accustomed to managing penetr ating trauma expeditiously.