Cardiac tamponade and successful pericardiocentesis in an extremely low birth weight neonate with percutaneously inserted central venous line: a case report.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Pericardial effusion and cardiac tamponade are rare but life-threatening complications of percutaneosuly inserted central line (PICL) use in extremely low birth weight (ELBW) neonates, with an incidence reported between 0.07% and 2% of PICLs placement. Timely diagnosis and pericardiocentesis has been proven to be life-saving.

Case presentation

The patient was a 620 g birth weight neonate who presented with sudden cardiac instability 18 days after the insertion of a PICL and in spite of a presumed satisfactory position of the catheter tip. The transthoracic echocardiography demonstrated severe pericardial effusion with evidence of cardiac tamponade. Successful urgent subxiphoid pericardiocentesis was performed; totally 2 ml of whitish fluid was collected, which res

SUBMITTER: Pizzuti A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2821304 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature