Chylopericardium is a rare clinical entity in which chylous fluid accumulates in the pericardial cavity. We report a case of primary idiopathic chylopericardium associated with multiple, small cervicomediastinal cystic hygromas occurring in an asymptomatic 43-year-old woman with no history of trauma, thoracic surgery, malignancy, infection or tuberculosis. Echocardiography showed a large amount...

There has been much interest in the published reports as to the extent to which measured left ventricular diastolic properties are affected by the pericardium. In this study observations were made on 24 patients, seven days after cardiopulmonary bypass. Left ventricular dimensions were measured from echocardiographic recordings and left ventricular diastolic pressure assessed from measurements ...

Congenital absence of the pericardium is a very rare entity that is usually asymptomatic and hence difficult to diagnose. However, cases of sudden death have been reported in patients with partial pericardial defects (even asymptomatic ones), and such patients require surgical treatment. We report the case of a 17-year-old patient with complete pericardial agenesis (diagnosed by chance during a...

Pericardial-diaphragmatic rupture is a rare condition which occurs after blunt trauma and involves the herniation of abdominal organs into the pericardium. A 77-year-old female patient presenting with complaints of palpitation and difficulty in breathing was admitted to the emergency room. Left lateral thoracotomy revealed the herniation of abdominal organs into the thorax. A pericardial-diaphr...

Pneumopericardium is defined by the presence of air in the pericardial cavity. It is a rare entity occurring most commonly after trauma. Pneumopericardium resulting after pericardiocentesis is even rarer. We report a case of 46-year-old man, with end-stage renal disease on chronic hemodialysis and who developed a large circumferential pericardial effusion of 40 mm in diastole with swinging hear...

A 56-year old lady presented with mild chest pain. The echocar-diography revealed gross pericardial effusion. Repeated percu-taneous aspirations were performed. Ultimately, computed tomography helped in reaching the diagnosis of pericardial hydatid disease (Fig. 1A). On operating, a single infected cyst was found encompassing the heart with multiple daughter cysts (Figs 1B and 2A–C). Figure 1: ...

We present the case of a young man diagnosed with a right atrial mass and a large pericardial effusion. The patient had presented in the emergency department with chest pain, shortness of breath, pedal oedema and loss of appetite. A transthoracic echocardiogram showed a bright echodensity in the right atrium with a large pericardial effusion. He was treated for presumed tubercular pericardial e...

Primary hypothyroidism is a common clinical condition in which serous effusions are rare. Isolated cases have been reported in literature about presence of ascites, pleural effusion, pericardial effusion or combination of any two. But combination of all three is extremely rare. We hereby report a case of multiple body cavity effusions (ascites, pleural and pericardial effusions) and tissue edem...

Pericardiocentesis is the evacuation of fluid (which exceeds physiologic levels) from pericardial space. Although it’s generally used as a life saving procedure in cardiac tamponade, it is also used for diagnostic purposes. Together with the advances in imaging modalities, pericardiocentesis techniques are diversed. In this report our aim is to give an idea about the history and indications of ...