Gastric rupture—an uncommon complication after successful cardiopulmonary resuscitation: report of two cases

Gastric rupture is a poorly described complication following cardiopulmonary resuscitation. An incidence of 0.1% has been reported in the literature. Published reports describe traumatic gastric rupture after use of the CardioPump®, after mouth-to-mouth ventilation, and in children after resuscitation performed by paramedics. We report on two patients who developed gastric rupture after successful standard cardiopulmonary resuscitation. Preexisting gastric ulcerations or osseous trauma during resuscitation had been excluded. Neither patient developed abdominal symptoms; in both cases the gastric rupture was diagnosed by routine chest X-ray and both patients underwent—after stabilization—surgical treatment. One patient recovered well, but the other developed cardiogenic shock due to malignant arrhythmias and severely impaired left ventricular function. This patient died on the 6th postinterventional day. Gastric rupture rarely occurs after cardiopulmonary resuscitation. The causes of gastric rupture and the means to avoid this complication will be discussed.