title: Left ventricular collapse secondary to pericardial effusion treated with pericardicentesis and percutaneous pericardiotomy in severe pulmonary hypertension.
abstract: A 61-year-old white female, a Jehovah's Witness, with severe pulmonary hypertension, presented with worsening heart failure symptoms. She had a pericardial effusion with left ventricular (LV) diastolic collapse on transthoracic echocardiography. She was not a candidate for surgical pericardial window and therefore underwent pericardiocentesis and percutaneous balloon pericardiotomy with remarkable improvement in her clinical condition and with no recurrence of the effusion. LV diastolic collapse, an atypical presentation of cardiac tamponade, is commonly seen in postoperative patients with localized pericardial effusions. However, outside the surgical setting, isolated LV diastolic collapse is rare. Our case is one of the first cases described in the literature of LV diastolic collapse in the setting of severe pulmonary hypertension treated successfully with pericardiocentesis and percutaneous balloon pericardiotomy.
authors.affiliation: Division of Cardiovascular Disease, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama, USA. raed.aqel@med.va.gov
authors.forename: Raed A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Aqel
authors.forename: Wael
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Aljaroudi
authors.forename: Fadi G
authors.initials: FG
authors.lastname: Hage
authors.forename: Jose
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Tallaj
authors.forename: Barry
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Rayburn
authors.forename: Navin C
authors.initials: NC
authors.lastname: Nanda
mesh_terms: D002305:Cardiac Tamponade / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000209:etiology / Q000601:surgery*; D003131:Combined Modality Therapy; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D010490:Pericardial Effusion / Q000150:complications / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000601:surgery*; D010492:Pericardiectomy; D020519:Pericardiocentesis; D014463:Ultrasonography; D018487:Ventricular Dysfunction, Left / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000209:etiology / Q000601:surgery*