[A successful management of acute ruptures of the right atrium and left ventricle due to blunt trauma].

It is difficult to save a patient with acute cardiac free wall rupture due to blunt trauma; only 9 patients abroad and 2 patients in Japan are reported to have survived rupture of the left ventricle. A 30-year-old female was injured in a motor-vehicle accident. Distension of the neck vein, chest X-P and echocardiograms suggested cardiac tamponade due to cardiac rupture. After relieving the cardiac tamponade by left thoractomy, ruptures at the apex of the left ventricle and two sites in the right atrium could be repaired by median sternotomy, and the patient survived the injury. Cardiac rupture should be suspected in all cases of blunt trauma, and the early diagnosis of cardiac tamponade is a key to patient survival. Echocardiography is especially convenient and useful for the diagnosis of this condition. Repair should be performed by median sternotomy and the potential necessity for cardiopulmonary bypass should not be ignored.