A Rare Case of Spontaneous Pneumopericardium
Journal Title: Biomedical Journal of Scientific & Technical Research (BJSTR) - Year 2017, Vol 1, Issue 1
Abstract
Pneumopericardium is defined as a collection of air or gas in the pericardial cavity, its causes are usually secondary to trauma or mechanical ventilation, but spontaneous cases are very rare [1]. A 54-year-old man presented with a 6-hour history of acute typical retrosternal chest pain that occurred during minor exertion and was persistent from the start and not relieved by analgesics. His medical history was unremarkable, he was a heavy smoker. His clinical examination was unremarkable. His electrocardiogram (ECG) showed ST segment elevation in the inferior leads with PR depression in the anterior leads. His chest X-ray (CXR) lead (Figure 1) to a suspicion of intra-pericardial collection of air. His laboratory results were all normal except for mild elevation in cardiac enzymes. Echocardiography showed normal study, the suspicion of the intra-pericardial air collection had led us to do a chest computed tomography (CT) (Figure 2) which revealed the presence of air inside the pericardium. The patient was still in intractable pain with serial elevating cardiac enzymes so we decided to do coronary angiography that revealed normal coronaries (Figure 3). This case demonstrates the importance of good interpretation of the chest X-ray for exclusion of non-coronary causes of chest pain.
Authors and Affiliations
Abdallah Almaghraby
Keywords
Related Articles
- EP ID EP565153
- DOI 10.26717/BJSTR.2017.01.000101
- Views 259
- Downloads 0
Premorbid Cognitive Dysfunction and Endophenotypes in Bipolar Disorder: A Rapid Review
On the contrary that happened with schizophrenia, it has not been completely clarify if cognitive alterations precede the illness or are a consequence of it. Although some data indicate that some cognitive deficits are a...
The Smile Aesthetics and its Implications in Social Prosthetic Rehabilitations: A Case Report
The aim of this study is to individualize the correlative aspects between the type of smile , the degree of visibility of the teeth and the way in which the chosen therapeutic solution, in accordance with the particulari...
Reviving Previous Therapeutics by Recombinant Anaerobic Bifidobacteria
Anaerobic bacteria such as clostridia have gained attention for use in anti-cancer therapies. They selectively invade tumor tissue and grow in the hypoxic environment surrounding the tumor cells. Bacterial infection acti...
Reliability and Concurrent Validity of the BruininksOseretsky Test in Children with Cerebral Palsy
Background: The Bruininks-Oseretsky test (BOT2) assesses global and fine motor proficiency in healthy children. We evaluated concurrent validity and reliability of the short form (BOT2-SF) and the upper-limb items of the...
Salvage Therapy of Infected Wounds of the Extremities Using 5% Acetic Acid and Povidone Iodine
Aim: Infected surgical wounds of extremities increase patient mortality and morbidity, with extended hospital stay and significant economic burden. Bone and joint infections pose a formidable challenge to the orthopedic...