Pericardial laceration and fatal cardiac herniation in an improperly restrained six-month-old infant.

ABSTRACT

We present the youngest reported patient to suffer pleuropericardial laceration with fatal cardiac herniation from blunt chest trauma, apparently related to the improper use of an infant restraint device. Pericardial laceration with cardiac herniation occurs infrequently, but should be suspected in this setting when a patient in electromechanical dissociation is unresponsive to standard resuscitation measures.