ABSTRACT
Thoracic injury is frequently noted following trauma in small animals. Blunt force injury to the chest can produce cardiovascular lesions including myocardial contusion, pericardial tear, interatrial and interventricular septal perforation, and cardiac rupture. Penetrating injuries to the myocardium of small animals are rare in clinical veterinary medicine. Primary cardiac injury is not a prerequisite for injury-induced myocardial dysfunction. Autonomic imbalance, ischemia, reperfusion injury, electrolyte derangements, and acid-base abnormalities may all account for arrhythmias in traumatized animals.
