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Previous Volume 349:684-690 August 14, 2003 Number 7 Next

	Since this article has no abstract, we have provided an extract of the first 100 words of the full text and any section headings.

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Cardiac tamponade is life-threatening, slow or rapid compression of the heart due to the pericardial accumulation of fluid, pus, blood, clots, or gas, as a result of effusion, trauma, or rupture of the heart.^1,2 Because the causes of pericardial disease¹ and thus of tamponade are diverse, clinicians must choose the most probable diagnosis, always anticipating surprises. Thus, traumatic tamponade is most apt to follow cardiac surgery, and tuberculous tamponade is relatively common in Africa but rare in the United States.

Understanding the physiological changes produced by tamponade is essential to diagnosis and treatment.^{3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12} The primary abnormality is rapid or slow . . . [Full Text of this Article]

Clinical Findings

Laboratory Investigations

Variant Forms of Cardiac Tamponade

Special Problems

Management of Acute Cardiac Tamponade

Pericardiocentesis

Source Information

From the Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, Department of Medicine, Saint Vincent Hospital–Worcester Medical Center, Worcester, Mass.

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