Extension of the vertebrate heart tube is driven by progressive addition of second heart field (SHF) progenitor cells to the poles of the heart. Defects in this process cause a spectrum of congenital anomalies. SHF cells form an epithelial layer in splanchnic mesoderm in the dorsal wall of the pericardial cavity. Here we report oriented cell elongation, polarized actomyosin distribution and nuc...

The clinical features in patients with acute Q fever are variable. We present a patient with fever, abdominal distension, pericardial effusion, and diffuse gallium uptake in the abdominal cavity, mimicking peritonitis or peritoneum carcinomatosis. Serologic surveys revealed acute infection by Coxiella burnetii. The patient responded poorly to doxycycline and improved with oral levofloxacin. Dur...

Proepicardial cells give rise to epicardium, coronary vasculature and cardiac fibroblasts. The proepicardium is derived from the mesodermal lining of the prospective pericardial cavity that simultaneously contributes myocardium to the venous pole of the elongating primitive heart tube. Using proepicardial explant cultures, we show that proepicardial cells have the potential to differentiate int...

Primary pericardial malignant mesothelioma is a very rare clinical entity and its prognosis is very poor. We herein report a 67-year-old man who presented with pericardial mesothelioma that was diagnosed 21 months after the onset of cardiac tamponade as the initial manifestation. Despite undergoing pericardiocentesis and surgical pericardial fenestration at the onset of cardiac tamponade, we we...

A 73-year-old man was transferred to our emergency room with a sudden onset of severe back pain, being under mechanical ventilation because of an intractable pain. His heart rate was regular and blood pressure was 166/96mmHg. A chest computed tomographic scan revealed a massive pericardial effusion associated with type B aortic dissection. His family told us that he had a history of hypothyroid...

I was interested to read the paper by Majeed and Kvasnicka (1978) on cardiac tamponade in a patient with juvenile rheumatoid arthritis. The final comment is that it is difficult to judge the value of local corticosteroid injections after pericardiocentesis, but they quote the paper of Scharf et al. (1976) in which the effect of local corticosteroid was dramatic. The authors have overlooked a re...

Primary pericardial sarcomas are very rare. A 62-year-old Japanese man presented with cardiac tamponade. Echocardiography, computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging revealed massive pericardial effusion and a large tumor in the pericardial cavity, attached to the pericardium of the left ventricular posterolateral free wall. Surgical excision of the tumor was performed and histopatholog...

Pneumopericardium, an accumulation of air in the pericardial cavity, occurs very rarely as compared to pneumothorax and pneumomediastinum. Clinical presentation is variable, patients are frequently asymptomatic, and mild cases usually resolve spontaneously. However, it may lead to pericardial tamponade, which requires rapid diagnosis and treatment that can be lifesaving. The traditional diagnos...

Normal pericardium consists of an outer sac called fibrous pericardium and an inner one called serous pericardium. The two layers of serous pericardium: visceral and parietal are separated by the pericardial cavity, which contains 20 to 60 mL of the plasma ultrafiltrate. The pericardium acts as mechanical protection for the heart and big vessels, and a lubrication to reduce friction between the...

the pericardial cavity completely. The cutoff indicated basal penicardial adhesions in addition to effusion;4 angulation of the penicardial sac also indicated further pericardial scarring, and the reduced capacity of the pericardial cavity suggested the presence of constriction.1 Moreover, the presence of basal adhesions was misleading etiologically because they have been considered characteris...