Commotio cordis – a review of a rare cause of sudden death in young athletes
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.12775/JEHS.2023.40.01.008Keywords
commotio cordis, ventricular fibrillation, sudden death, sudden cardiac death, sudden cardiac arrest, AEDAbstract
Commotio cordis, from Latin “agitation of the heart” is a potentially fatal sudden disruption and alteration of heart electric activity. It is usually caused by relatively mild blunt non-penetrating trauma to the specific point on anterior part of the chest wall during beginning of the heart muscle repolarization phase. It leads to ventricular fibrillation presenting as a collapse few seconds after the blow. It can be lethal without taking proper steps of management in a short ammount of time.References
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