Cardiac herniation mimics cardiac tamponade in blunt trauma. Must early resuscitative thoracotomy be done?

Blunt rupture of the pericardium is a rare injury. Strangulated cardiac hernia following blunt trauma is one cause of reversible cardiac arrest. Traumatic pericardial tears usually have delayed diagnoses and carry high mortality rates (64%). Clinical signs mimic cardiac tamponade during the primary survey. We report here two cases of blunt trauma. Both patients arrived alive in the emergency room and presented signs of cardiac tamponade caused by pericardial rupture.