Other Situations
Commotio cordis may also occur in other situations, such as in children who are punished with blows over the precordium, cases of torture, frontal collisions of motor vehicles (the impact of the steering wheel against the thorax, although this has decreased substantially with the use of safety belts and air bags).
In contrast, the precordial thump (hard blows given over the precordium with a closed fist in order to revert cardiac arrest) is a sanctioned procedure for emergency resuscitation by trained health professionals witnessing a monitored arrest when no equipment is at hand, endorsed by the latest guidelines of the International Liaison Committee on Resuscitation. It has been discussed controversially, as—in particular in severe hypoxia—it may cause the opposite effect (i.e., a worsening of rhythm—commotio cordis). In a normal adult, the energy range involved in the precordial thump is 5-10 times below that associated with commotio cordis.
Read more about this topic: Commotio Cordis
Famous quotes containing the word situations:
“Part of the responsibility of being a parent is to arrange situations in children’s lives so they are able to meet crises with a reasonable chance of coping successfully with them.... Parents who believe children are unharmed by crises and will simply bounce back in time seriously misunderstand children.”
—Donald C. Medeiros (20th century)
“To get into just those situations where sham virtues will not suffice, but rather where, as with the ropedancer on his rope, one either falls or stands—or gets down.”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)