Category: Visual Diagnosis
Posted: 12/16/2013 by Haney Mallemat, MD
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46 year-old female found unresponsive at a party. EMS transports the patient in cardiac arrest. A parasternal-long axis view of the heart is obtained during the pulse check. What's the diagnosis?
Hemopericardium
The heterogeneous appearance of the pericardial fluid indicates that is likely a complex pericardial effusion; the fluid could be blood, pus, or a malignant effusion.
Differential diagnosis of hemopericardium includes:
Based on this initial ECHO, a pericardiocentesis was performed and blood was aspirated.
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