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Cardiac tamponade

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Definition:

Cardiac tamponade is the compression of the heart caused by blood or fluid accumulation in the space between the myocardium (the muscle of the heart) and the pericardium (the outer covering sac of the heart).

Alternative Names:

Tamponade; Pericardial tamponade

Causes, incidence, and risk factors:

In this condition, blood or fluid collects within the pericardium. This prevents the ventricles from expanding fully, so they cannot adequately fill or pump blood.

Cardiac tamponade is often associated with pericarditis caused by bacterial or viral infections. Heart surgery, dissecting aortic aneurysm (thoracic), wounds to the heart, end-stage lung cancer, and acute MI can all lead to cardiac tamponade.

Other potential causes include heart tumors, kidney failure , recent heart attack, recent open heart surgery, recent invasive heart procedures, radiation therapy to the chest, hypothyroidism and systemic lupus erythematosus .

Cardiac tamponade occurs in approximately 2 out of 10,000 people.

• Review Date: 7/14/2006
• Reviewed By: J.A. Lee, M.D., Division of Surgery, UCSF, San Francisco, CA. Review provided by VeriMed Healthcare Network.

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