title: Cardiac tamponade: an unusual complication of pericardial cyst.
abstract: Pericardial cysts are not common and rarely cause symptoms. We report a unique case of a 15-year-old male patient with cardiac tamponade clinically diagnosed who was referred for echocardiography. Transthoracic echocardiography revealed, in addition to a large pericardial effusion associated with echocardiographic signs of cardiac tamponade, an 8 x 5 cm echofree image suggesting a pericardial cyst adjacent to the right atrium. Immediately after pericardiocentesis, yielding a serosanguinous liquid, the patient showed striking clinical improvement and echocardiography demonstrated minimal pericardial effusion with persistence of the cystic image. At surgery a pericardial cyst containing a sanguinous fluid was found and the pathologic findings were consistent with hematic pericardial cyst. Thus echocardiography played a fundamental role for the diagnosis and treatment of the rare complication of a pericardial cyst documented in this patient.
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, School of Medicine of Ribeirao Preto, University of Sao Paulo, Brazil.
authors.forename: F C
authors.initials: FC
authors.lastname: Bandeira
authors.forename: V P
authors.initials: VP
authors.lastname: de Sá
authors.forename: J C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Moriguti
authors.forename: A J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Rodrigues
authors.forename: M C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Jurca
authors.forename: O C
authors.initials: OC
authors.lastname: Almeida-Filho
authors.forename: J A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Marin-Neto
authors.forename: B C
authors.initials: BC
authors.lastname: Maciel
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002305:Cardiac Tamponade / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000209:etiology*; D004452:Echocardiography; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008476:Mediastinal Cyst / Q000150:complications* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D010490:Pericardial Effusion / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000209:etiology; D011677:Punctures