UMEM Educational Pearls

Category: Cardiology

Title: Blunt Chest Trauma

Keywords: Chest, Trauma, Aortic, murmur (PubMed Search)

Posted: 7/14/2007 by Amal Mattu, MD (Emailed: 7/8/2007) (Updated: 3/28/2024)
Click here to contact Amal Mattu, MD

The most common valvulopathy after blunt chest trauma is acute aortic insufficiency. These patients will present with a new diastolic murmur. Stability depends on the degree of AI. On the other hand, if a chest trauma patient presents with a new systolic murmur, think about acute septal rupture. These patients are much more often unstable, or may die before arrival. These diagnoses may be missed in the unstable patient because physicians focus on the abdomen in the unstable patient. Pay attention to the heart sounds also!