PENETRATING WOUNDS OF THE HEART. EXPERIENCE WITH 249 PATIENTS.

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS 1.Pertinent data relative to penetrating wounds of the heart are presented; the Physiopathologic and clinical effects of cardiac tamponade are particularly stressed. Diagnostic criteria and the methods of treatment are discussed. 2.This study clearly indicates that if a patient with a heart wound reaches the hospital emergency ward alive, the chances of survival under prompt and intelligent treatment are indeed very good, probably in the range of 80 to 90 per cent. 3.The author is convinced that thoracotomy with pericardiotomy and direct repair of the wound is the most effective method in the definitive treatment of patients with penetrating wounds of the heart. The reasons for selecting open operative therapy as opposed to pericardial aspiration have been enumerated. Pericardiocentesis as definitive treatment is to be employed only in special situations and is not to be adopted as recommended procedure.

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