Cardiac tamponade is usually the result of penetration of the pericardium, which is the thin, double-walled sac that surrounds your heart. The cavity around your heart can fill with enough blood or other bodily fluids to compress your heart. As the fluid presses on your heart, less and less blood can enter.

What is the most common cause of cardiac tamponade?

In acute cardiac tamponade, this fluid accumulation occurs quickly, while it happens slowly in subacute cardiac tamponade. The most common causes of cardiac tamponade are: severe chest injury. heart attack.

How does cardiac tamponade occur?

Cardiac tamponade happens when extra fluid builds up in the space around the heart. This fluid puts pressure on the heart and prevents it from pumping well. A fibrous sac called the pericardium surrounds the heart. This sac is made up of 2 thin layers.

Who gets cardiac tamponade?

Cardiac tamponade is rare. The incidence is 2 cases per 10,000 population in the USA. Cardiac tamponade related to trauma or HIV is more common in young adults. Tamponade due to malignancy and/or chronic kidney injury occurs more frequently in elderly individuals.

How does trauma cause cardiac tamponade?

In trauma, the cause is more often a penetrating rather than blunt mechanism. The wound is often medial to the nipples (for anterior wounds) or the scapulae (for posterior wounds). Tamponade due to blunt trauma involves cardiac chamber rupture, which is typically fatal before patients can be brought for treatment.

Can CABG cause cardiac tamponade?

Cardiac tamponade due to loculated posterior pericardial clot post-CABG requires prompt diagnosis and appropriate management to avoid the potential for hemodynamic instability.

Can TB cause cardiac tamponade?

Cardiac tamponade is an uncommon presenting symptom of TB, but is a life-threatening condition that may require acute treatment in intensive care unit. Special precautions should be taken in this setting to avoid the spread of the disease.

What causes blood to pool around the heart?

Often, when the heart experiences inflammation (known as pericarditis) extra fluid releases and collects within the sac. It is also possible for blood to fill the sac during or after trauma, surgery, or complications of other heart procedures. Blood around the heart is known as hemopericardium.

What does cardiac tamponade look like on ECG?

The ECG criteria of cardiac tamponade we adopted was as follows: 1) Low QRS voltage in a ) the limb leads alone, b) in the precordial leads alone or, c) in all leads, 2) PR segment depression, 3) Electrical alternans, and 4) Sinus tachycardia.

What is the most common cause of pericardial effusion?

Lung cancer is the most common cause of the malignant pericardial effusion. Trauma: Blunt, penetrating, and iatrogenic injury to the myocardium, aorta, or coronary vessels can lead to the accumulation of blood within the pericardial sac.

How quickly does cardiac tamponade occur?

Acute or rapid cardiac tamponade is a form of cardiogenic shock and occurs within minutes. The symptoms are sudden onset of cardiovascular collapse and may be associated with chest pain, tachypnoea, and dyspnoea.

What is the difference between pericardial effusion and cardiac tamponade?

Pericardial effusion is an anatomic diagnosis of abnormal pericardial fluid accumula- tion that has no hemodynamic consequences, whereas cardiac tamponade is a physiologic diagnosis of varying amounts of pericardial fluid that causes increased pressure and resultant hemodynamic consequences (Harken, Hammond, & Ed-

How is pericardial tamponade diagnosis?

Your doctor will conduct further tests to confirm a cardiac tamponade diagnosis. One such test is an echocardiogram, which is an ultrasound of your heart. It can detect whether the pericardium is distended and if the ventricles have collapsed due to low blood volume.

Is flail chest life threatening?

Prognosis and outlook. Immediate treatment for flail chest is required to prevent it from threatening your life. It’s an extremely serious condition. Younger people who are in good health can usually recover without experiencing further complications, if the correct treatment is administered promptly.

Does blood pressure increase with inspiration?

Normally during inspiration, a person’s systolic blood pressure decreases by ≤10 mmHg and heart rate slightly increases.

How is Pericardiocentesis performed?

During pericardiocentesis, a doctor inserts a needle through the chest wall and into the tissue around the heart. Once the needle is inside the pericardium, the doctor inserts a long, thin tube called a catheter. The doctor uses the catheter to drain excess fluid. The catheter may come right out after the procedure.