The aim of this paper is to point to the dangers of pneumopericardium (PPC), which is defined as a collection of air or gas in the pericardial cavity. PPC belongs to the most dangerous kinds of extra-alveolar air and only physicians' awareness of that condition and immediate air evacuation (pericardiocentesis) prevents the deleterious results. Neonatal pneumopericardium is a rare clinical condi...

Pneumopericardium is rare and has been reported secondary to chest trauma. We report a case of tension pneumopericardium occurring during double-lung transplantation, where intraoperative transoesophageal echocardiography first showed a hypokinetic left ventricle and a few minutes later a compression of its anterolateral portion due to pneumopericardium. Although the pericardium was opened, lef...

Pneumopericardium is rare in acute asthma and cardiac tamponade has not been reported. The case is reported of a 20 year old asthmatic patient in whom assisted ventilation and high airway pressures resulted in tension pneumopericardium with clinical signs of cardiac tamponade that were relieved by pericardial aspiration.

Cardiac tamponade secondary to air is rare. Pneumopericardium is most commonly encountered in neonates, often secondary to positive pressure ventilation. 1-3 In adults blunt trauma is the main cause of pneumopericardium. Cardiac tamponade occurs in roughly one-third of such patients. 1 A 24-year-old man presented to the Tshepong casualty department with a stabbed chest. His vital signs were ini...

Three serial chest radiographs (CXR) are presented to document the patient’s clinical course. (A) Patient’s on CXR to the emergency department, which shows a right sided pulmonary infiltrate as the probable cause nfants presenting respiratory distress. (B) The development of pneumopericardium (black arrows) after endotratubation. (C) CXR taken after pericardiocentesis and insertion of a pericar...