Post-traumatic compressive pneumopericardium with spontaneous ventilation: Case report

Jamal Ouachaou; Ilyass Laaribi; Hamza Mimouni; Yassine Mellagui; Houssam Bkiyar; Brahim Housni

doi:10.1016/j.rmcr.2021.101354

Post-traumatic compressive pneumopericardium with spontaneous ventilation: Case report

Respir Med Case Rep. 2021 Jan 30:32:101354. doi: 10.1016/j.rmcr.2021.101354. eCollection 2021.

Authors

Jamal Ouachaou¹, Ilyass Laaribi¹, Hamza Mimouni¹, Yassine Mellagui¹, Houssam Bkiyar¹, Brahim Housni¹

Affiliation

¹ Intensive Care Unit, Mohammed VI University Hospital Center, Faculty of Medecine and Pharmacy of Oujda, Mohammed I University, Oujda, Morocco.

Abstract

Pneumopericardium is a rare complication of a blunt thoracic trauma. It is defined as the presence of air in the pericardial sac. There are just a few cases described in the literature. This article brings pneumopericardium to light, reinforcing the importance of considering it within the blunt chest trauma and remarking its management with a careful monitoring for the patients whose stable or even asymptomatic with spontaneous ventilation because of the risk of tension pneumopericardium and cardiac arrest. Diagnosis is often difficult, and it can be life-threatening by the occurrence of gas tamponade. We report the case of a 48 years old patient victim of a severe traumatism with pneumothorax and pneumopericardium; he was stable with spontaneous ventilation.

Keywords: Blunt traumatism; Pneumopericardium; Pneumothorax; Spontaneous ventilation.

Publication types

Case Reports