{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,1]],"date-time":"2026-09-01T19:59:18Z","timestamp":1788292758040,"version":"build-2803163510"},"reference-count":12,"publisher":"Aerospace Medical Association","issue":"10","content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["aerosp med hum perform"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2022,10,1]]},"abstract":"<jats:p><jats:bold>BACKGROUND:<\/jats:bold> Cardiac injury in trauma patients can be secondary to either blunt or penetrating trauma and is a significant cause of death. The commonest etiological factors for blunt cardiac injury include motor vehicle collisions, falls, and crush or blast injuries. The incidence\n of blunt cardiac injury following falls is reported to be between 5 and 50%.<jats:bold>CASE REPORT:<\/jats:bold> A combat pilot lost his life in an aircraft accident. Although he had ejected successfully just before the aircraft caught fire and his parachute had deployed fully, it was engulfed in the ball\n of fire rising up from the burning aircraft wreckage, causing the parachute to burn up. As a result, the pilot had a free fall from an estimated height of 70\u201380 ft (21\u201324 m). Autopsy revealed a ruptured right atrium and endocardial tears at the right atrioventricular junction.\n The left side of the heart and the coronary arteries were unscathed. The histopathological finding showed evidence that the cardiac injuries sustained were antemortem. The cause of death was ascertained to be due to cardiac rupture, leading to hemorrhagic shock.<jats:bold>DISCUSSION:<\/jats:bold> Cardiac\n rupture in this case appears to be a case of the \u2018water hammer\u2019 effect, the right atrium being the commonest site of blunt cardiac rupture. It is possible that the individual landed on his feet after his parachute got burnt in the ball of fire and the violent compression of the\n lower limb and abdominal veins, caused by the sudden hyperflexion of the lower limbs over the abdomen, caused the cardiac rupture in this case.<jats:bold>CONCLUSION:<\/jats:bold> The possibility of blunt cardiac trauma should always be kept in mind while dealing with survivors of ejection at low levels.<jats:bold>Sharma\n MD, Gupta N, Rajkumar T, Sharma A. <jats:italic>Cardiac rupture due to a fall from height: the \u2018water hammer\u2019 effect<\/jats:italic>. Aerosp Med Hum Perform. 2022; 93(10):755\u2013757.<\/jats:bold><\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3357\/amhp.6054.2022","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2022,10,16]],"date-time":"2022-10-16T04:33:21Z","timestamp":1665894801000},"page":"755-757","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":5,"title":["Cardiac Rupture Due to a Fall from Height: The \u2018Water Hammer\u2019 Effect"],"prefix":"10.3357","volume":"93","author":[{"given":"Manav Dutt","family":"Sharma","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Neha","family":"Gupta","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Tanuja","family":"Rajkumar","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Aarti","family":"Sharma","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1911","reference":[{"key":"B1","first-page":"19","volume-title":"Fatal aircraft accidents: a pathologist\u2019s notebook.","year":"2008"},{"issue":"1","key":"B2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"35","DOI":"10.1177\/1460408610385516","article-title":"Cardiac rupture following blunt trauma","volume":"13","year":"2011","journal-title":"Trauma."},{"issue":"6","key":"B3","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"933","DOI":"10.1097\/00005373-199212000-00028","article-title":"Blunt myocardial disruption: report of an unusual case and literature review","volume":"33","year":"1992","journal-title":"J Trauma."},{"key":"B4"},{"key":"B5"},{"issue":"3","key":"B6","first-page":"483","article-title":"Pelvic fracture: the last 50 years","volume":"69","year":"2010","journal-title":"J Trauma."},{"issue":"10","key":"B7","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"917","DOI":"10.1056\/NEJMra0910111","article-title":"Commotio cordis","volume":"362","year":"2010","journal-title":"N Engl J Med."},{"key":"B8","volume-title":"Aviation accident pathology: a study of fatalities.","year":"1962"},{"issue":"3","key":"B9","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"371","DOI":"10.1161\/01.CIR.18.3.371","article-title":"Nonpenetrating traumatic injury of the heart","volume":"18","year":"1958","journal-title":"Circulation."},{"issue":"3","key":"B10","first-page":"449","article-title":"Auricular rupture in a fatal fall \u2013 a case report","volume":"4","year":"2015","journal-title":"Int J Sci Res."},{"issue":"2","key":"B11","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"301","DOI":"10.1097\/01.TA.0000074554.86172.0E","article-title":"Blunt cardiac trauma caused by fatal falls from height: an autopsy-based assessment of the injury pattern","volume":"57","year":"2004","journal-title":"J Trauma."},{"key":"B12","year":"2017"}],"container-title":["Aerospace Medicine and Human Performance"],"original-title":[],"link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/asma.kglmeridian.com\/view\/journals\/amhp\/93\/10\/article-p755.xml","content-type":"text\/html","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/asma.kglmeridian.com\/downloadpdf\/journals\/amhp\/93\/10\/article-p755.xml","content-type":"text\/html","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"syndication"},{"URL":"https:\/\/asma.kglmeridian.com\/downloadpdf\/journals\/amhp\/93\/10\/article-p755.xml","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2025,2,21]],"date-time":"2025-02-21T00:02:02Z","timestamp":1740096122000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/asma.kglmeridian.com\/view\/journals\/amhp\/93\/10\/article-p755.xml"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2022,10,1]]},"references-count":12,"journal-issue":{"issue":"10"},"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3357\/amhp.6054.2022","relation":{},"ISSN":["2375-6314","2375-6322"],"issn-type":[{"value":"2375-6314","type":"print"},{"value":"2375-6322","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2022,10,1]]}}}