A Case Report of Cardiac Tamponade Caused by Anterior Mediastinal Bleeding after Blunt Chest Trauma

Eisaku Nakamura

Katsuhiko Niina

Kazushi Kojima and Atsuko Yokota

（Miyazaki Prefectural Nobeoka Hospital, Nobeoka, Japan）

A 37-year-old man who fell from a truck had chest pain and we diagnosed blunt chest trauma. A chest computed-tomography displayed a traumatic cardiac tamponade. The patient was transported to our hospital for emergency surgery. After median sternotomy, there was no injury of heart and great vessels in the pericardial sac but a rupture of the pericardium. Bleeding and hematoma were found in the anterior mediastinal space. The cardiac tamponade was caused by the bleeding from anterior mediastinal space. Usually, blunt cardiac tamponade was caused by the bleeding from cardiovascular organs, however, we encountered a very rare cardiac tamponade due to the bleeding from the anterior mediastinal space.

 

Jpn. J. Cardiovasc. Surg. 44:29-32（2015）

Keywords：blunt chest trauma;anterior mediastinal bleeding;cardiac tamponade;rupture of the pericardium