A 57-year-old female presented with cardiac tamponade as the initial manifestation of metastatic lung adenocarcinoma and was successfully treated with emergent pericardiocentesis.
Case Report (n=1)
No
Malignant pericardial effusion can rarely present as cardiac tamponade and serve as the initial manifestation of an underlying malignancy such as lung adenocarcinoma.
Lung cancers are the most common primary tumors that involve the pericardium with a prevalence of up to 50%. Usually, pericardial involvement goes undetected with almost 10%-12% found among all cancer related autopsies. Rarely pericardial effusions can be the initial site of metastasis and initial manifestation of a primary tumor. In our case, we report a 57-year-old female presenting with cardiac tamponade and subsequent testing was done which revealed lung adenocarcinoma. Malignant pericardial effusions are often silent, but certain times can present with symptoms of shortness of breath, chest pain, cough, arrhythmias, and rarely as pericardial tamponade. A high index of suspicion is required when a patient presents with tamponade to diagnose malignancy. Emergent pericardiocentesis may be warranted depending on the clinical presentation but quite often, patients tend to have a poor prognosis despite therapy given the extent of disease.
Vemireddy et al. (Mon,) conducted a case report in Lung adenocarcinoma with malignant pericardial effusion and tamponade (n=1). Pericardiocentesis was evaluated. A 57-year-old female presented with cardiac tamponade as the initial manifestation of metastatic lung adenocarcinoma and was successfully treated with emergent pericardiocentesis.
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