A 41-year-old man, who received preoperative concurrent chemoradiotherapy (totally 3,200cGy was administered) from one month previously due to lower third esophageal cancer, presented to the emergency department with chest pain, diaphoresis, and fever for 1 day. Physical examination revealed fever (38.4°C), tachycardia (120 bpm), hypotension (90/52 mmHg), and engorged jugular vein but normal ch...

In their editorial on the pulmonary consequences ofillicit drug use (November 1995; 50:1125-7) Benson and Bentley draw attention to barotrauma as a complication of cocaine inhalation. Pneumothorax, pneumomediastinum, and pneumopericardium have also been described, however, in association with the use of marijuana,12 a drug that is more widely used in England and Australia than cocaine. The mech...

We present a 47-year-old man with acute lymphocytic leukemia with a pericardial friction rub heralding pericardial aspergillosis. The clinical course was complicated by pneumopericardium, likely secondary to a direct connection between the lung parenchyma and the pericardial space. Bronchoalveolar lavage cultures returned positive for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus and Aspergillus ...

A 88-year-old male patient presented with fever, singultus and retrosternal pain. After 8 days of antibiotic therapy not resulting in clinical improvement, he suddenly developed a pneumopericardium. Contrast swallow and endoscopy showed intrapericardial perforation of a benign gastric ulcer. Excision of the ulcer and suturing of both the stomach and the diaphragm as well as lavage of the perica...