The Chase epicardial stabiliser as an adjunct tool for the management of penetrating cardiac injuries

TECHNIQUE For patients arriving in cardiopulmonary arrest, emergency department thoracotomy is indicated. For those patients arriving stable enough to be transported to the operating room, median sternotomy is the incision of choice. Penetrating injuries to the heart will inevitably cause bleeding of the myocardium, mandating repair to prevent cardiac tamponade. Suture repair of a cardiac laceration is usually carried out with simple interrupted or horizontal mattress sutures but this is quite challenging in beating hearts. At times, rapid manipulation and elevation of the heart during repair results in complex dysrhythmias and even cardiac arrest.4