Tension Pneumopericardium

Lawrence G. Smith, M.D., and Tasneem Naqvi, M.D.

N Engl J Med 1995; 332:1481June 1, 1995

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Figure 1 Tension pneumopericardium, a rare complication of pyogenic lung abscess, occurred in a 27-year-old white man with the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome. Cultures of specimens obtained through a bronchoscopic sheath catheter had yielded Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus. Despite antibiotic treatment, the patient had spontaneous rupture of the abscess into the pericardial sac and died from a tension pneumopericardium and cardiac tamponade. The chest x-ray film in Panel A shows cavitating pneumonia in the left mid-lung field, adjacent to the cardiac silhouette. In Panel B, another chest film, air under pressure is evident in the pericardial sac, with the original abscess cavity now clear of fluid. In Panel C, a photograph taken at autopsy, showing the parietal pericardial surface, the fistula (arrowhead) connecting the pericardial sac (P) to the lung abscess can be seen.

Kim Eagle, M.D.

Lawrence G. Smith, M.D.
Mount Sinai Medical Center, New York, NY 10029

Tasneem Naqvi, M.D.
State University of New York at Stony Brook, Stony Brook, NY 11794

Citing Articles (1)

Citing Articles

1
Amelie Leclerc, Brigitte A. Brisson, Howard Dobson. (2004) Pneumopericardium associated with pulmonary-pericardial communication in a dog. Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association 224:5, 710-712
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