Okeke Raymond I, Saliba Christian, Cao Jasmin, Lee Felicia, Parrish Bernard P, Nadella Jahnavi, Miyata Shin, Blewett Christopher
General Surgery, Sisters of St. Mary (SSM) Health Saint Louis University Hospital, Saint Louis, USA.
Pediatric Surgery, Sisters of St. Mary (SSM) Health Cardinal Glennon Children's Hospital, Saint Louis, USA.
Cureus. 2022 Nov 14;14(11):e31477. doi: 10.7759/cureus.31477. eCollection 2022 Nov.
Despite the reserve for recovery in pediatric trauma, blunt force chest trauma can cause insidious injuries that are easy to miss. Coronary artery dissection is a rare injury associated with blunt force chest trauma in the pediatric population and can present with vague or atypical symptoms. Pediatric patients can be unreliable in reporting symptoms, and providers can mistake coronary artery injuries for myocardial contusion, especially with improving laboratory tests and equivocal imaging. We report a case showing the importance of a high index of suspicion when presented with this trauma pattern in a pediatric patient.