Cardiac tamponade as a rare form of presentation of rheumatic carditis

Abstract

In this article the authors describe a clinical case of acute rheumatic fever (according to revised Jones criteria, American Heart Association [AHA], 1992) with cardiac tamponade, emphasizing this uncommon presentation. An adolescent patient with a clinical picture of cardiac tamponade was seen in the emergency department. Clinical progression and tests demonstrated rheumatic carditis with an initial manifestation of pericarditis with cardiac tamponade. This report aims to warn physicians about the diagnosis of rheumatic carditis in an unusual clinical presentation, in cases of cardiac tamponade, particularly in school-aged children and adolescents in countries with a high prevalence of rheumatic fever. The literature contains only two documented cases of cardiac tamponade related to acute rheumatic fever, and this case represents a third.