Right ventricular perforation by a rib fragment following blunt thoracic trauma

Blunt chest trauma produces a variety of injuries. Penetrating cardiac injuries from rib fractures are extremely rare. We report the unusual case of a patient with multiple rib fractures and penetrating cardiac injury from dislocated segment of fractured VIII left rib. We did find eight patients reported in the literature having penetrating cardiac injuries from rib fractures. The clinical finding and the diagnosis of this injuries are discussed.