Right atrial rupture from blunt thoracic trauma in a 4-year-old child.

Blunt cardiac injury in the pediatric population has been less frequently reported than in the adult population. Cardiac chamber rupture is a rare but highly lethal injury in both populations. The lethality of this condition is further enhanced by the multiplicity of injuries that are frequently present. The diagnosis of cardiac chamber rupture is often delayed while other injuries are being addressed. A high index of suspicion and early use of the appropriate imaging studies are essential for the timely diagnosis of this condition. In this report, we present a 4-year-old child who survived 10 hours of pericardial tamponade secondary to blunt right atrial rupture.

Postoperative complications among octogenarians after cardiovascular surgery.

BACKGROUND: The octogenarian patient is often perceived as too fragile to undergo cardiothoracic surgery. Our study aimed to compare postoperative complications in patients aged less than 80 versus elderly patients (80 years or more) after surgical cardiac intervention (coronary artery bypass or valve replacement). METHODS: Subjects were all patients (n = 8,361) who had an open-heart procedure, either coronary artery bypass or valve implantation or replacement, at two medical centers located in northern Virginia using the same surgical group. A computerized medical record database was reviewed to determine preoperative risk factors and postoperative outcomes. Predictors of complications were identified by univariate and multivariate logistic regression. RESULTS: A total of 3,214 complications were recorded. The most prevalent complications were prolonged ventilation time in the intensive care unit, reoperation for bleeding, and pneumonia. The overall mortality rate was 2.4% (204 of 8,361). Persons aged over 80 years had nearly double the mortality rate compared with younger patients (4.1% [18 of 444] to 2.3% [186 of 7,917]). Age greater than 80 years (odds ratio = 2.65, 95% confidence interval = 2.18 to 3.22) and male gender (odds ratio = 0.62, 95% confidence interval = 0.56 to 0.69) were the best univariate predictors of a single postoperative complication. CONCLUSIONS: Octogenarian patients manifested twice the risk of death from a cardiac intervention with an average 2-day longer hospital stay compared with their younger counterparts. Furthermore, octogenarians were at markedly higher risk of nonfatal postoperative complications.