Purulent pericarditis and cardiac tamponade caused by Nocardia farcinica in a nephrotic syndrome patient

Intern Med. 2013;52(19):2231-5. doi: 10.2169/internalmedicine.52.0453. Epub 2012 Mar 1.

Abstract

Nocardiosis is an uncommon infection that occurs primarily in immunocompromised patients. We herein report an extremely rare case of Nocardia farcinica (N. farcinica) pericarditis. A 53-year-old man with nephrotic syndrome that required chronic corticosteroid therapy presented with pleuritic chest pain and cardiac tamponade. Pericardiocentesis revealed purulent pericardial effusion and a bacteriological examination showed the characteristic branching filamentous bacteria identified as N. farcinica. Aggressive surgical drainage and a trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole based regimen resulted in clinical improvement. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first reported case of N. farcinica pericarditis in Thailand.

Publication types

  • Case Reports
  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Cardiac Tamponade / diagnosis*
  • Cardiac Tamponade / etiology
  • Cardiac Tamponade / microbiology
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Nephrotic Syndrome / complications
  • Nephrotic Syndrome / diagnosis*
  • Nephrotic Syndrome / microbiology
  • Nocardia Infections / complications
  • Nocardia Infections / diagnosis*
  • Nocardia* / isolation & purification
  • Pericarditis / diagnosis*
  • Pericarditis / etiology
  • Pericarditis / microbiology