Commotio cordis is a rare type of blunt cardiac injury in which low impact chest trauma causes sudden cardiac arrest, usually occurs from being struck by a projectile during sports. The most common arrhythmia during commotio cordis is ventricular fibrillation, although complete heart block and an idioventricular rhythm have also been reported. We describe a case of a young patient who presented...

Ectopia cordis is derived from two Latin words which means outside and heart [1]. It is a rare congenital malformation in which the heart is formed outside the thoracic cavity. It occurs in 1 in 5-7 per 1,000,000 live births [2]. It may occur as an isolated defect or in association with other body wall defects that affect the thorax, abdomen or both [3]. It may also be associated with other int...

Amniotic band syndrome is a collection of fetal malformations associated with fibrous bands that appear to entangle or entrap various fetal parts in utero leading to deformation, malformation, or disruption. Ectopia cordis is a rare congenital defect in fusion of the anterior chest wall resulting in extrathoracic location of the heart. In this article, we report a rare case of ectopia cordis an...

Microangiography, using methylene blue injected at eight vitelline vein sites, was performed on 156 developing chick embryos at Hamburger-Hamilton stages 14-22. Two stream patterns were observed. Type A coursed sequentially through the dorsal portion of the sinus venosus, the cranial segments of the primitive atrium and atrioventricular canal, the ventral parts of the primitive ventricle and co...

BACKGROUND Sudden death due to relatively innocent chest-wall impact has been described in young individuals (commotio cordis). In our previously reported swine model of commotio cordis, ventricular fibrillation (with T-wave strikes) and ST-segment elevation (with QRS strikes) were produced by 30-mph baseball impacts to the precordium. Because activation of the K(+)(ATP) channel has been implic...

BACKGROUND External chest impacts (commotio cordis) can cause mechanically induced premature ventricular excitation (PVEM) and, rarely, ventricular fibrillation (VF). Because block of stretch-sensitive ATP-inactivated potassium channels curtailed VF occurrence in a porcine model of commotio cordis, VF has been suggested to arise from abnormal repolarization caused by stretch activation of potas...