Cardiac Tamponade: An Unusual Cause of a Severe Headache with Normal Blood Pressure

Phool Iqbal; Safna Farsana Akkam Veettil; Arwa Alsaud; Nagham Sadik; Sania Razzaq

doi:10.7759/cureus.7004

Cardiac Tamponade: An Unusual Cause of a Severe Headache with Normal Blood Pressure

Cureus. 2020 Feb 15;12(2):e7004. doi: 10.7759/cureus.7004.

Authors

Phool Iqbal¹, Safna Farsana Akkam Veettil¹, Arwa Alsaud¹, Nagham Sadik¹, Sania Razzaq²

Affiliations

¹ Internal Medicine, Hamad General Hospital, Doha, QAT.
² Radiology, Hamad General Hospital, Doha, QAT.

Abstract

Cardiac tamponade is a life-threatening condition characterized by slow or rapid compression of the heart due to the accumulation of fluid in the pericardial space and rarely presents mainly as a headache. We report an unusual presentation of cardiac tamponade associated mainly with severe headache over three days and mild shortness of breath in a 60-year-old male not known to have any previous heart disease. Immediate computed tomography (CT) scan of the head ruled out intracranial hemorrhage. A chest x-ray showed cardiomegaly, and further echocardiography revealed a large pericardial effusion on a transthoracic echocardiogram compromising the right ventricular output. Urgent pericardiocentesis was performed and removed 800 ml of hemorrhagic fluid that led to a complete resolution of his severe headache.

Keywords: cardiac tamponade; headache; normal blood pressure.

Publication types

Case Reports