Penetrating trauma to the cardiac box is associated with high rates of cardiac injury, structural complications, morbidity, and mortality. Early identification and intervention of these injuries is paramount to obtaining good patient outcomes. In this paper, we report a 55-year-old male who sustained a single stab wound to left chest which perforated the right ventricle. The patient also sustained a muscular ventricular septal defect (VSD) which led to a prolonged intensive care unit (ICU) course complicated by late pericardial tamponade. We present successful management of this patient’s initial injury along with his ICU course culminating in successful endovascular occlusive patch VSD repair.
IvaturyRRRohmanMSteichenFM. Penetrating cardiac injuries: twenty-year experience. Am Surg. 1987;53:310-317.
2.
OlsovskyMRDiSciascioGVetrovecGW. Acute traumatic ventricular septal rupture. Am Heart J. 1996;131:1039-1041.
3.
BerryCHillisWSKnightWB. Transcatheter closure of a ventricular sepatal defect resulting from knife stabbing using the Amplatzer muscular VSD occluder. Catheter Cardiovasc Interv. 2006;68:153-156.
4.
KhalidOCaoQLHijaziZM. Catheter closure of ventricular septal defect. In: Cases in adult Congenital heart disease. London: Churchill Livingstone; 2010:48
