Abstract: Penetrating heart injuries is considered a challenging problem. Patients who reach the hospital alive require immediate resuscitation and excellent surgery. Aim of this study to determine the patient’s outcome of penetrating cardiac injuries in our center.
Material and methods: During the 7-year period from January 2008 to 2015, retrospectively we collected and recorded data of managed thirty-one patients with penetrating stab wound of the heart who presented at our trauma center in King Khalid hospital and Prince Sultan for medical services, Al Kharj, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Only patients discharged from the hospital considered survivors. Results: Twenty-six patients (83.9%) were males and five (16.1%) were females. The mean age of the patients was 26.48±11.20 years. The overall mortality was eight patients (25.8%). Systolic blood pressure (SBP) ≤90 mmHg was found in 23 patients (74.2%) whereas eight (25.8%) had SBP≤50 mmHg. Nine patients (29%) were unconscious. The percentage of patients with SBP≤50 mmHg and unconscious was significantly higher among non-survivors. The right ventricle was the most frequently injured cardiac chamber (48.4%), followed by the left ventricle (19.4%), but right atrium was injured in four patients (12.9%), whereas the left atrium was in three patients (9.7%) like the pulmonary artery. Concerning wounded chambers, there is no significant differences between survivors and non-survivors.
Conclusion: The key to successful management is early diagnosis with aggressive and accurate resuscitation measurement and surgical repair to improve the patient’s outcome.
Keywords: Penetrating, Cardiac, Injury, Outcome.
Title: Outcome of Penetrating Cardiac Injuries in Our Center
Author: Mohamed Abdelaal, Ihab Moursi, Abdulaziz Mubarak Aljuhayim, Abdurhaman Furaih Alharbi, Humoud Owaidh Almutairi, Abdulrahman Rsheed Bin Swilim
International Journal of Healthcare Sciences
ISSN 2348-5728 (Online)
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