While injuries on the field and in the athletic arena are common, no one anticipates that a young athlete will die of a mysterious but all-too-common syndrome called
commotio cordis, a rare disruption of the heart's electrical system resulting from a blunt impact to the chest that leads to cardiac arrest.
Grethe Krogh plays Carl Nielsen's
Commotio as part of a concert today at Symphony Hall (11.30am).
Of the 128 individuals (aged 3 months to 45 years) studied, 79 (62%) were participating in organized competitive sports when
commotio cordis occurred.
Ventricular fibrillation induced by stretch pulse: implications for sudden death due to
commotio cordis.
The most frequent ocular findings in all injured eyes were vitreous haemorrhage 16(32.65%), superficial corneal FB 14(28.57%), cataract 12(24.48%), RD 8(16.32%) and
commotio retinae 8(16.32%) (Figure)
Published in cooperation with the American College of Sports Medicine, this textbook contains 18 chapters on the etiology, prevention, recognition, treatment, and return-to-play guidelines for 12 of the top causes of sudden death in sports, including heart disease, congenital cardiac conditions,
commotio cordis, exertional heat stroke and hyponatremia, head injuries, asthma, exertional sickling, and environmental, immune-related, and autoimmune conditions.
Presenting visual acuity was Counting Finger (CF) at 2 meter with
commotio retinae and inferior vitreous hemorrhage.
Sudden cardiac death due to the induction of ventricular fibrillation (VF) by blunt chest wall blows is defined as
commotio cordis.
For example, in the
commotio cordis query set (Table 3, online only), the occurrence of
commotio cordis was reported in four articles related to violence, each of which employed different title terms (violence, less-lethal weapon, soldier, military).
Patients diagnosed with microscopic hyphema, ruptured globe, or posterior segment injuries other than
commotio retina on the initial emergency department visit, those with any systemic disorders such as diabetes mellitus, hypertension, and coagulative disorders, those who used any anticoagulative medication or had a past history of ocular surgery, children under 7 years old, and pregnant and nursing women were excluded from the study.
Commotio cordis is defined as a cardiac concussion with significant electrical disturbance when force is applied to the thorax during a vulnerable phase of ventricular repolarization.
