Diagnosis of cardiac tamponade in the presence of complex medical illness

Evaluation of non-surgical causes of cardiac tamponade in children at a cardiac surgery center

BACKGROUND

The aim of this study was to examine the causes of cardiac tamponade in children undergoing percutaneous pericardiocentesis.

METHOD

Patients who presented with other complaints but were diagnosed with cardiac tamponade based on clinical and echocardiographic findings between January 2010 and January 2013 were retrospectively investigated. Electrocardiography, telecardiography and transthoracic echocardiography were performed. Pericardiocentesis was performed percutaneously under continuous blood pressure and rhythm monitoring with echocardiography and fluoroscopy. Pericardial fluid was analyzed on hemography and biochemistry.

RESULTS

Fourteen patients (six boys, eight girls; median age, 7 years) underwent pericardiocentesis for cardiac tamponade. At presentation, 78% had dyspnea, 56% chest pain, and 49% fever. All had cardiomegaly, and their cardiothoracic index was 0.56-0.72. Also, all patients had sinus tachycardia; 78%, low QRS voltage; 70%, ST-T changes; and 50% QRS alternans. On echocardiography the widest diameter of pericardial effusion was between 12 mm and 36 mm depth around the heart. The pericardial fluid was purulent in one, serohemorrhagic in seven, serofibrinous in two, and serous in four cases. Pericardiocentesis was unsuccessful in two patients, who underwent open surgical drainage, with no complications. Based on pericardial fluid characteristics and additional tests, cardiac tamponade was caused by an infection in five patients, hypothyroidism in two, familial Mediterranean fever in two, malignancy in one, acute rheumatic fever in one, collagen tissue disease (systemic lupus erythematosus) in one, catheter placement-associated damage in one, and idiopathic pulmonary arterial hypertension in one patient.

CONCLUSION

Pericardial effusion and cardiac tamponade in children have varied causes, and early treatment is life saving.

The nurse specialist and practical issues in the care of pulmonary arterial hypertension patients

Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) remains a devastating disease. All current medical therapy is expensive, complex and largely palliative. The management of PAH patients requires co-ordination between the patient, their support system, third party payers and healthcare professionals. The nurse specialist serves to organise these entities, balancing the needs of the patient and the PAH programme. The care of the PAH patient requires equal attention to avoiding potentially harmful procedures and medications, maximising conventional therapy and utilisation of new PAH-specific medical treatment.

Cardiac tamponade presenting as an apparent life-threatening event

The initial emergency department (ED) evaluation of infants with an apparent life-threatening event (ALTE) often fails to identify a definitive cause for the event. Many children that present with an ALTE appear normal by the time they arrive to the ED. These factors can desensitize clinicians into prematurely discounting serious underlying causes of the ALTE or being less prompt in their evaluation of these patients. We present the case of a young infant who presented to an ED with an ALTE resulting from cardiac tamponade. Cardiac tamponade has not been reported as an underlying cause of infants presenting to the ED with an ALTE. Previously reported cases of cardiac tamponade in children have occurred as a complication of malignancies, cardiac surgery, trauma, infections, central venous catheter placement, rheumatologic, and autoimmune diseases. This case should serve as a reminder to clinicians to maintain a broad differential diagnosis and promptly evaluate all infants presenting with an ALTE.