BACKGROUND: Complications after percutaneous breast biopsy are infrequent but may include hematoma, pseudoaneurysm formation, persistent pain, infection, delayed wound healing, vasovagal reaction, hemothorax, pneumothorax, and neoplastic seeding. The risk factors include tumor factors (size, location, vascularity), procedure-related factors (needle diameter, number of biopsies), and interventionist experience. There has been no previous report of a fatal complication resulting from percutaneous breast biopsy.
METHODS: We report a 54-year-old Asian woman with a 3 cm BI-RADS® 4B left breast mass in the lower-inner quadrant who was biopsied by a 16 G needle under ultrasound guidance at a province hospital. She experienced dizziness and near-syncope afterward. The initial evaluation showed evidence of cardiac tamponade with hemodynamic instability. She underwent urgent subxiphoid pericardial window and was transferred to our facility. We brought her directly to the operating room to perform an explorative median sternotomy and found a 0.2 cm hole in the right ventricle. The injured site was successfully repaired without cardiopulmonary bypass. Postoperative echocardiography demonstrated mild right ventricular dysfunction without evidence of septal or valvular injury. She survived with no significant complications.
CONCLUSIONS: This case might be the first report of a life-threatening complication related to percutaneous breast core-needle biopsy. The rapid pericardial release is key to the survival of cardiac tamponade. The patient subsequently required cardiac repair and monitoring to avoid long-term complications. In this report, we suggested a safe biopsy method, complications recognition, and appropriate management of penetrating cardiac injury.
CONCLUSIONS: Penetrating cardiac injury resulting from percutaneous breast biopsy is extremely rare but can occur. A biopsy must be done cautiously, and worst-case management should promptly be considered.

Cardiac tamponade is a rare postoperative complication of esophagectomy, with no previous reports of association with coronary artery aneurysm rupture. We present a case of cardiac tamponade caused by coronary aneurysm rupture following esophageal cancer surgery. A 68-year-old man with no history of heart disease underwent robotic subtotal esophagectomy for esophageal squamous cell carcinoma. He experienced intermittent chest pain on postoperative day (POD) 17. Echocardiography revealed increasing pericardial fluid, and pericardiocentesis on POD 34 revealed bloody pericardial fluid. Contrast-enhanced computed tomography and coronary angiography revealed a ruptured coronary aneurysm causing cardiac tamponade. Emergency surgery with a median sternotomy achieved hemostasis, and the patient recovered successfully. Cardiac tamponade after esophageal surgery, particularly from coronary aneurysm rupture, is rare. Prompt diagnosis and treatment are crucial for patient survival. Despite its risks, median sternotomy was effective in achieving rapid hemostasis and patient recovery in this case.

BACKGROUND: Cardiac tamponade is a life-threatening condition requiring prompt diagnosis and therapeutic intervention. Diagnosis and management of cardiac tamponade in patients with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection pose a major challenge for clinicians. This study aimed to investigate clinical characteristics, paraclinical findings, therapeutic options, patient outcomes, and etiologies of cardiac tamponade in people living with HIV.
METHODS: Pubmed, Embase, Scopus, and Web of Science databases were systematically searched for case reports or case series reporting HIV-infected patients with cardiac tamponade up to February 29, 2024. Baseline characteristics, clinical manifestations, paraclinical findings, therapeutic options, patient outcomes, and etiologies of cardiac tamponade were independently extracted by two reviewers.
RESULTS: A total of 37 articles reporting 40 HIV-positive patients with cardiac tamponade were included. These patients mainly experienced dyspnea, fever, chest pain, and cough. They were mostly presented with abnormal vital signs, such as tachypnea, tachycardia, fever, and hypotension. Physical examination predominantly revealed elevated Jugular venous pressure (JVP), muffled heart sounds, and palsus paradoxus. Echocardiography mostly indicated pericardial effusion, right ventricular collapse, and right atrial collapse. Most patients underwent pericardiocentesis, while others underwent thoracotomy, pericardiotomy, and pericardiostomy. Furthermore, infections and malignancies were the most common etiologies of cardiac tamponade in HIV-positive patients, respectively. Eventually, 80.55% of the patients survived, while the rest expired.
CONCLUSIONS: Infections and malignancies are the most common causes of cardiac tamponade in HIV-positive patients. If these patients demonstrate clinical manifestations of cardiac tamponade, clinicians should conduct echocardiography to diagnose it promptly. They should also undergo pericardial fluid drainage and receive additional therapy, depending on the etiology, to reduce the mortality rate.

BACKGROUND: Safety data of the latest radiofrequency (RF) technologies during atrial fibrillation (AF) ablation in real-world clinical practice are limited.
OBJECTIVE: We sought to evaluate the acute procedural safety of the four latest ablation catheters commonly used for AF ablation.
METHODS: A total of 3957 AF ablation procedures performed between January 2022 and December 2023 at 20 centers with either the THERMOCOOL SMARTTOUCH SF (STSF), TactiCath (TC), QDOT Micro (QDM), or TactiFlex (TF) were retrospectively analyzed.
RESULTS: In total, QDM, STSF, TF, and TC were used in 343 (8.7%), 1793 (45.3%), 1121 (28.4%), and 700(17.7%) procedures. Among 2406 index procedures, electrical pulmonary vein isolations were successfully achieved in 99.5%. Despite similar total procedure times in the four groups, the total fluoroscopic time was significantly shorter for QDM/STSF with CARTO than TF/TC with EnSite (18.7 ± 14 vs. 27.6 ± 20.6 min, p < .001) and longest in the TF group. The incidence of cardiac tamponade was 0.7% (0.5% and 0.9% during index and redo procedures, 0.8% and 0.3% for paroxysmal and non-paroxysmal AF) and was significantly lower for QDM/STSF than TF/TC (0.2% vs. 1.1%, p = .008) and highest in the TF group. The incidence of cardiac tamponade was higher for TF than TC and STSF than QDM. In the multivariate analysis, TF/TC with EnSite was a significant independent predictor of cardiac tamponade during both the index (odds ratio [OR] = 4.8, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.3-17.5, p = .02) and all procedures (OR = 3.0, 95% CI = 1.3-7.2, p = .01).
CONCLUSIONS: The incidence of cardiac tamponade and the fluoroscopic time during AF ablation significantly differed among the latest RF catheters and mapping systems in real-world clinical practice.

Cardiac tamponade is a rare complication of hypothyroidism. In rarer cases, hypothyroidism may initially present with tamponade. Cardiac tamponade is an emergency condition that usually requires urgent intervention. However, guidelines for tamponade secondary to hypothyroidism are not optimal, and cases have been managed variably (ranging from levothyroxine alone to pericardiocentesis followed by thyroid hormone replacement) with diverse outcomes. Here, we report a case of a 42-year-old male with no medical history who presented with exertional dyspnea, lower leg swelling, facial puffiness, constipation, and weight gain. He had low blood pressure (80/60 mm Hg), normal heart rate with sinus rhythm, normal oxygen saturation, and was afebrile. Apart from a mildly raised creatinine, his test results were normal. An echocardiogram revealed features of tamponade. Further laboratory tests showed severe hypothyroidism. Following the initiation of levothyroxine, he demonstrated significant improvement. Coronary angiography revealed 95% stenosis in the mid-left anterior descending artery, treated with stenting. Serial echocardiograms showed regression of the pericardial effusion, stabilizing his condition without the need for invasive pericardiocentesis. This case highlights the importance of prompt diagnosis and management of hypothyroidism-related tamponade to prevent severe cardiac compromise. Hence, it may be necessary to consider hypothyroidism in the differential for patients with unexplained cardiac tamponade.

Metastasis of non-small cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC) is a rare cause of cardiac metastatic tumors (CMT). We present a case of NSCLC infiltrating the apical left ventricle mimicking cardiac aneurysm and tamponade. The patient, who had a history of NSCLC, presented with acute shortness of breath and an echocardiogram concerning for ruptured left ventricular aneurysm. A neoplastic mass found at the cardiac apex suggested CMT leading to ventricular wall rupture and cardiac tamponade. Transthoracic echocardiography is the most ubiquitous imaging modality for CMT diagnosis, with cardiac magnetic resonance imaging offering a more detailed assessment. CMT from NSCLC can cause dangerous cardiac tamponade, warranting consideration in patients with suspected metastases.
Metastasis of non–small cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC) to the heart is uncommon but can lead to serious complications including life-threatening cardiac tamponade.Diagnosis of cardiac metastatic tumors from NSCLC often involves echocardiography, but cardiac magnetic resonance imaging provides additional insights in cases where echocardiography results are inconclusive.

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Herein we describe a case of a 60-year-old white male from New York City who was admitted to hospital due to worsening dyspnea. He presented with an acute onset of fever, night sweats, and progressively worsening non-productive cough and orthopnea over the preceding week. Electrocardiogram findings revealed atrial fibrillation. Manifesting signs of hypoperfusion, a trans-esophageal echocardiography was performed, which demonstrated the presence of a cardiac tamponade. An emergency pericardiocentesis was performed, draining 750 cc of serosanguinous content. Laboratory investigations depicted an inflammatory milieu marked by lymphocytic leukocytosis, cardiac function impairment, and remarkably elevated d-dimer and brain natriuretic peptide levels. Notably, high-sensitivity troponin T remained within normal limits. Comprehensive viral panel assays, including COVID-19, Influenza A+B, Respiratory Syncytial Virus, Hepatitis C, HIV, Cytomegalovirus, Coxsackie A+B, and Herpes Simplex Virus, returned negative results. Furthermore, anti-nuclear factor and rheumatoid factor titers were negative. Blood and fungal cultures, as well as assessments for Mycobacterium tuberculosis, yielded negative findings. On further history-taking, he reported that he had occupational exposure to rat droppings and urine two weeks ago. Serological analysis demonstrated positive hantavirus IgG and IgM antibodies. Supportive management was initiated. Consequently, the patient was discharged asymptomatic, without pericardial effusion. Evaluation after two weeks revealed no recurrence of symptoms.

BACKGROUND: Pericardiocentesis offers a definitive diagnostic and a life-saving therapeutic modality through removal of pericardial fluid and relief of high intrapericardial pressure. Percutaneous pericardiocentesis has been performed via different approaches depending on different institutional experiences. In this paper, we present our institutional experience and review the current literature of the different approaches for performing percutaneous pericardiocentesis.
METHODS: We evaluated consecutive patients who underwent echocardiographic-guided pericardiocentesis via the apical approach for pericardial effusion between the period of April 1st, 2022, and April 1st, 2023, at University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS). Health records were reviewed for clinical presentations, available imaging findings, procedural outcomes, and short-term follow up.
RESULTS: A total of eight consecutive cases of pericardiocentesis via the apical approach were found. Seven were successful. No complications were reported. Six patients had evidence of tamponade physiology on echocardiogram.
CONCLUSIONS: Historically, pericardiocentesis has been most performed via the subxiphoid approach. However, an ultrasound-guided apical approach offers a safe and effective alternative and may be preferable in patients with challenging anatomies.