Selenium deficiency favors the appearance of heart failure after multiple injury

A 47-year-old multiple trauma patient, experiencing a C. Difficile colitis with diarrhoea, developed diffuse oedema with peritoneal and pleural effusion due to global heart failure. Selenium deficiency, reported in trauma patients, may explain the occurrence of cardiomyopathy. The role of selenium in cardiac dysfunction and the various situations inducing a selenium deficiency are discussed.