Abstract
Commotio cordis is a recognised cause of sudden death in which an apparently minor blow to the chest causes ventricular fibrillation and cardiac arrest. It is best known for causing death during games of youth baseball in the United States, but individual cases have been recorded as a result of a wide range of activities, principally sporting. The underlying biochemical and mechano-electric causes have been well documented. However, there are few reported cases where commotio cordis is implicated as the cause of death in homicide cases. We present three cases from the north-east of England where an assault caused death by this mechanism.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Nesbitt AD, Cooper PJ, Kohl P (2001) Rediscovering commotio cordis. Lancet 357:1195–1197
Nelaton A (1876) Elements de pathologie chirurgicale, 2nd edn. Librarie Germer Bateliere, Paris
Meola F (1879) La commozione toracica. G Int Sci Med 1:923–937
Adler P, Monticone RC (1996) Injuries and deaths related to baseball. In: Kyle SB (ed) Youth baseball protective equipment project final report. Consumer Product Safety Commission, Washington DC, pp 1–43
Abrunzo TJ (1991) Commotio cordis: the single most common cause of traumatic death in youth baseball. Am J Dis Child 145:1279–1282
Maron BJ, Gohman TE, Kyle SB, Estes NA 3rd, Link MS (2002) Clinical profile and spectrum of commotio cordis. JAMA 287:1142–1146
Schlomka G (1934) Commotio cordis und ihre Folgen. Die Einwirkung stumpfer Brustwandtraumen auf das Herz. Ergebn Inn Med Kinderheilkd 47:1–91
Kohl P, Nesbitt AD, Cooper PJ, Lei M (2001) Sudden cardiac death by commotio cordis: role of mechano-electric feedback. Cardiovasc Res 50:280–289
Link MS, Wang PJ, VanderBrink BA, Avelar E, Pandian NG, Maron BJ, Estes NA 3rd (1999) Selective activation of the K+ATP channel is a mechanism by which sudden death is produced by low-energy chest-wall impact (commotio cordis). Circulation 100:413–418
Link MS, Wang PJ, Pandian NG et al. (1998) An experimental model of sudden death due to low-energy chest-wall impact (commotio cordis). N Engl J Med 338:1805–1811
Frazer M, Mirchandani H (1984) Commotio cordis, revisited. Am J Forensic Med Pathol 5:249–251
Denton JS, Kalelkar MB (2000) Homicidal commotio cordis in two children. J Forensic Sci 45:734–735
Baker AM, Craig BR, Lonergan GJ (2003) Homicidal commotio cordis: the final blow in a battered infant. Child Abuse Negl 27:125–130
Zakhari S (1991) Vulnerability to cardiac disease. Recent Dev Alcohol 9:225–260
Link MS, Ginsburg SH, Wang PJ, Kirchhoffer JB, Berul CI, Estes NA 3rd, Paris YM (1998) Commotio cordis: cardiovascular manifestations of a rare survivor. Chest 114:326–328
Antezano ES, Hong M (2003) Sudden cardiac death. J Intensive Care Med 18:313–329
Karch SB (2002) Pathology of drug abuse, 3rd edn. CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Hamilton, S.J., Sunter, J.P. & Cooper, P.N. Commotio cordis–A report of three cases. Int J Legal Med 119, 88–90 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00414-004-0511-y
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00414-004-0511-y