Posttraumatic Pneumopericardium: A Sign of Severe Injury or Radiodiagnostic Rarity?

Lonský, Vladimír; Manďák, Jiří; Harrer, Jan; Tuna, Martin; Dvořák, Petr; Dědek, Tomáš; Dominik, Jan

doi:10.14712/18059694.2017.125

Acta Medica > Archive > 2006, Vol. 49 > Issue 2 > Posttraumatic Pneumopericardium: A Sign…

Acta Med. 2006, 49: 129-132

https://doi.org/10.14712/18059694.2017.125

Posttraumatic Pneumopericardium: A Sign of Severe Injury or Radiodiagnostic Rarity?

Vladimír Lonský^a, Jiří Manďák^a, Jan Harrer^a, Martin Tuna^a, Petr Dvořák^b, Tomáš Dědek^c, Jan Dominik^a

^aCharles University in Prague, Faculty of Medicine and University Hospital in Hradec Králové, Departments of Cardiac Surgery, Hradec Králové, Czech Republic
^bCharles University in Prague, Faculty of Medicine and University Hospital in Hradec Králové, Departments of Radiology, Hradec Králové, Czech Republic
^cCharles University in Prague, Faculty of Medicine and University Hospital in Hradec Králové, Departments of Traumatology, Hradec Králové, Czech Republic

Received February 1, 2006
Accepted May 1, 2006

We present three cases of pneumopericardium following blunt chest trauma injury. All three patients were victims of road traffic accidents. All had multiple associated injuries and pneumopericardium was found as the additional finding. Pneumopericardium was treated conservatively with thoracic drains placement and patients observation. Transesophageal echocardiography was used as a method of choice for exclusion of cardiac air tamponade. All three patients survived.