A 69-year-old man came to our emergency department with nausea, vomiting and upper abdominal pain under the suspicion of an ileus. Four weeks before he had had an elective aortic valve replacement. The basal thoracic slides of the abdominal CT-scan revealed a significant amount of pericardial effusion, after which the patient was referred for emergency cardiac surgery. Abdominal complaints are rarely the primary symptoms of severe heart failure.