Tricuspid Insufficiency Detected 8 Years Later Following a Blunt Chest Trauma

Post-traumatic tricuspid insufficiency is a rare condition and may be clinically silent and imprecise. The diagn- osis may be difficult when it progreses slowly and other acute lesions exist concomittantly. Two-dimenstional Doppler echocardiography appears to be an essential procedure in diagnosting the rupture of chordae tendineae or papillary muscle following traumatic injury. We report a case of tricuspid insufficiency of which symptom developed 8 years later following a blunt chest trauma. The patient was operated by tricuspid vlave repair with chordal replacement and ring annuloplasty successfully. We would like to emphasize that patients sustaining ma- jor thoracic trauma should be carefully examine for possible blunt chest trauma including cardiac valve rupture or tear. ( ( ( (Korean Circulation J 1999;29(10 :1133-1137