Post-traumatic cardiac complications may occur after penetrating or blunt injuries to the heart or may follow severe extracardiac injuries. The majority of victims with penetrating injuries to the heart die at the scene and do not reach hospital care. For those patients who reach hospital care, an immediate operation, sometimes in the emergency room, cardiac injury repair, and cardiopulmonary resuscitation provide the only possibility of survival. Many patients develop perioperative cardiac complications such as acute cardiac failure, cardiac arrhythmias, coronary air embolism, and myocardial infarction. Some survivors develop post-operative functional abnormalities or anatomical defects, which may not manifest during the early post-operative period. It is essential that all survivors undergo detailed early and late cardiac evaluations. Blunt cardiac trauma encompasses a wide spectrum of injuries that includes asymptomatic myocardial contusion, arrhythmias, or cardiogenic shock to full-thickness cardiac rupture and death. Clinical examination, electrocardiograms, troponin measurements, and echocardiography are the cornerstone of diagnosis and monitoring of these patients. Lastly, some serious extracardiac traumatic conditions, such as traumatic pneumonectomy and severe traumatic brain injury, may result in cardiac complications. This may include tachyarrhythmias, cardiogenic shock, electrocardiographic changes, troponin elevations, heart failure, and cardiac arrest.
