Gastric rupture from cardiopulmonary resuscitation or seizure activity? A case report.

Ascertaining the cause of a gastric rupture is difficult and can be complicated by events occurring in the pre-hospital phase of patient care. To our knowledge, only seven cases of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR)-related injuries to the stomach have been reported in the literature since 1997. We found no reports of seizure-related gastric injury. We present the case of a patient who sustained a gastric rupture, tension pneumoperitoneum, and a tension pneumomediastinum after retching, seizure, CPR, and advanced cardiac life support maneuvers.