Intracardiac Shunts after Penetrating Wounds of the Heart

IN the past half century, since Rehn's early (1896) repair of a cardiac laceration, success in the restoration of wounded hearts has been a vivid chapter in surgical progress. Maguire and Griswold,1 seventeen years ago, could report a mortality of only 8.7 per cent in 23 patients who survived their cardiac wounds long enough to permit thoracotomy. In the era of cardiac catheterization and openheart surgery the recognition and repair of intracardiac shunts caused by blunt or penetrating wounds have added further drama to the story. It seems worthwhile to record further examples of this unusual clinical problem.Case Reports . . .