Purulent pericarditis induced by endobronchial needle injection of adenoviral-mediated gene therapy.

A case of a 65-year-old man who presented with cardiac tamponade and was diagnosed with Staphylococcus aureus purulent pericarditis is reported. The patient had recently undergone bronchoscopic endobronchial needle injection of gene therapy for recurrent lung cancer. It was felt that incidental, direct inoculation of contaminated contents into the pericardium, versus mediastinal seeding with direct extension, had occurred. Following pericardiocentesis and antibiotic therapy, the patient fully recovered. The present case is the first reported incidence of purulent pericarditis induced by bronchoscopic injection of gene therapy.