Rapidly Developing Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus Pericarditis and Pericardial Tamponade

Cardiac tamponade in people living with HIV: a systematic review of case reports and case series

BACKGROUND

Cardiac tamponade is a life-threatening condition requiring prompt diagnosis and therapeutic intervention. Diagnosis and management of cardiac tamponade in patients with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection pose a major challenge for clinicians. This study aimed to investigate clinical characteristics, paraclinical findings, therapeutic options, patient outcomes, and etiologies of cardiac tamponade in people living with HIV.

METHODS

Pubmed, Embase, Scopus, and Web of Science databases were systematically searched for case reports or case series reporting HIV-infected patients with cardiac tamponade up to February 29, 2024. Baseline characteristics, clinical manifestations, paraclinical findings, therapeutic options, patient outcomes, and etiologies of cardiac tamponade were independently extracted by two reviewers.

RESULTS

A total of 37 articles reporting 40 HIV-positive patients with cardiac tamponade were included. These patients mainly experienced dyspnea, fever, chest pain, and cough. They were mostly presented with abnormal vital signs, such as tachypnea, tachycardia, fever, and hypotension. Physical examination predominantly revealed elevated Jugular venous pressure (JVP), muffled heart sounds, and palsus paradoxus. Echocardiography mostly indicated pericardial effusion, right ventricular collapse, and right atrial collapse. Most patients underwent pericardiocentesis, while others underwent thoracotomy, pericardiotomy, and pericardiostomy. Furthermore, infections and malignancies were the most common etiologies of cardiac tamponade in HIV-positive patients, respectively. Eventually, 80.55% of the patients survived, while the rest expired.

CONCLUSION

Infections and malignancies are the most common causes of cardiac tamponade in HIV-positive patients. If these patients demonstrate clinical manifestations of cardiac tamponade, clinicians should conduct echocardiography to diagnose it promptly. They should also undergo pericardial fluid drainage and receive additional therapy, depending on the etiology, to reduce the mortality rate.

Clinical Presentation and Management of Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus Pericarditis—Systematic Review

In the expanding era of antibiotic resistance, new strains of Staphylococcus aureus have emerged which possess resistance to traditionally used antibiotics (MRSA). Our review aimed to systematically synthesize information on previously described MRSA pericarditis cases. The only criterion for inclusion was the isolation of MRSA from the pericardial space. Our review included 30 adult and 9 pediatric patients (aged: 7 months to 78 years). Comorbid conditions were seen in most adult patients, whereas no comorbidities were noted amongst the pediatric patients. Pericardial effusion was found in 94.9% of cases, with evidence of tamponade in 83.8%. All cases isolated MRSA from pericardial fluid and 25 cases (64.1%) had positive blood cultures for MRSA. Pericardiocentesis and antibiotics were used in all patients. The mortality rate amongst adults was 20.5%, with a mean survival of 21.8 days, and attributed to multi-organ failure associated with septic shock. No mortality was observed in the pediatric population. In adult patients, there was no statistical difference in symptom duration, antibiotic duration, presence of tamponade, age, and sex in relation to survival. Conclusion: MRSA pericarditis often presents with sepsis and is associated with significant mortality. As such, a high clinical suspicion is needed to proceed with proper tests such as echocardiography and pericardiocentesis. In more than one third of the cases, MRSA pericarditis occurs even in the absence of documented bacteremia.