A case of a 37 year old man with cardiac angiosarcoma causing recurrent pericardial effusion, who eventually died of cardiac rupture, is presented. The diagnosis was not established until the postmortem examination despite echocardiography, pericardiocentesis, and pericardial biopsy investigations. There is neither a specific manifestation that enables early recognition nor well proven effectiv...

A case report of a patient presenting in cardiac tamponade that was subsequently diagnosed as being secondary to malignancy of unknown primary. The patient was treated by urgent pericardiocentesis, followed by subsequent formation of a subxiphoid pericardial window. He was discharged home and given palliative chemotherapy. Malignant pericardial effusions are common, but it is rare for a patient...

Coronary artery perforation (CAP) is a rare, but potentially serious complication of percutaneous coronary artery intervention (PCI). The strategies for management of patients with CAP include prolonged balloon inflation, coil embolization, covered stent implantation, pericardiocentesis, urgent surgery and reversal of heparin with protamine sulfate. We would like to share a case of type 3 perfo...

Myocardial rupture complicated acute myocardial infarction in a 50 year old man. Resuscitation was started immediately and he was treated with pericardiocentesis and a massive intravascular infusion of fluid. The torn area was plicated with Teflon felt and reinforced with an uninterrupted suture. The postoperative course was uncomplicated. This report points out the crucial importance of prompt...

Elderly patients often have unusual manifestations of common illnesses. We describe a geriatric patient having a pneumopericardium from pericardial penetration by a gastric ulcer. Benign gastric ulceration causing perforation of the pericardium or other cardiac structures was recognized as early as 1854; however, until 1964, the condition was invariably fatal. Our patient survived the episode a...

A 77-year-old woman presented to our emergency department with worsening shortness of breath. She was hemodynamically stable. Initial work-up was significant for hemoglobin 10.3 g/dl and enlarged cardiac silhouette on the chest X-ray. Transthoracic echocardiography showed a large circumferential pericardial effusion and dilated inferior vena cava. There was no right chamber collapse. Therapeuti...

A 69-year-old woman was admitted to our hospital because of weight loss and progressively worsening dyspnoea. Her previous medical history was unremarkable. She was admitted to the internal medicine department. A cardiologist was consulted because of atrial fibrillation with rapid ventricular response and an enlarged cardiac silhouette on her chest Xray. On physical examination her blood pressu...

BACKGROUND Pericardial effusions can be caused by a variety of disorders. The frequency of the underlying diseases varies with patient population; therefore, previously reported series are not necessarily representative of other populations. Our purpose was to examine the etiology of pericardial effusions and the survival of patients requiring pericardiocentesis at a tertiary center. METHODS ...