Optimal treatment for blunt trauma patients with cardiopulmonary arrest: An account of a successful case and review of the literature

Prognosis of cardiopulmonary arrest occurring in patients with blunt trauma is very poor; patients rarely recover from this condition. We either do not attempt cardiopulmonary resuscitation or terminate it after some time in blunt trauma–cardiopulmonary arrest cases. We presented a rare case of successful resuscitation of a patient with blunt trauma–cardiopulmonary arrest. A 54-year-old man was admitted to our emergency department after being injured in a traffic accident. The patient suffered from ventricular fibrillation, and spontaneous circulation was restored by a defibrillator. The estimated arrest time was 20 min. On arrival of our emergency department, the patient showed intra-abdominal hemorrhage and we performed emergency surgery; 10 days after admission, the patient suffered from pulseless ventricular tachycardia—coronary angiography was performed, which revealed that the patient had coronary artery stenosis. We experienced trauma patients concealed with coronary artery stenosis. In traumatic arrest with ventricular fibrillation, it may be due to a medical reason, and more prolonged and intensive resuscitation may be considered