[Heart lesions caused by blunt trauma. Echocardiographic follow-up studies].

The increased traffic has been accompanied by increased risk of blunt thoracic trauma. Trauma caused by the steering wheel leads to thoracic damage with serial rib fractures frequently involving cardiac damage. Apart from routine estimation of MB-CK and daily recording of the ECG echocardiographic follow-up is of considerable importance. Cardiac trauma may be recognised more promptly than by ECG and potential late complications can be outlined in time.