Hemorrhage into a pericardial cyst and associated right ventricular compression after blunt chest trauma.

Hemorrhage into a pericardial cyst is an extremely rare event after blunt chest injury and may lead to compression of cardiac chambers. Most pericardial cysts develop adjacent to the sternum, at the right or left cardiophrenic angle; therefore a direct blow to the chest may be associated with hemorrhage into a pericardial cyst. Surgical resection is reasonable because hemorrhagic content of cysts may cause failure of percutaneous interventions. The authors present the case of 20-year-old man with a giant hemorrhagic pericardial cyst diagnosed after blunt chest injury, which caused isolated compression of the right ventricle and demonstrates clinical features of this rare pathology. Copyright (c) 2010 The Society of Thoracic Surgeons. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.