Intra-Pericardial Rupture of Bacterial Hepatic Abscess: An Unusual Cause of ‘Cardiac’ Chest Pain

Abstract

We report a rare case of bacterial pericarditis secondary to rupture of liver abscess into the pericardium. The patient presented with cardiac-sounding chest pain and with normal ECG, CXR and Troponin-I assay. The initial echocardiogram showed minimal pericardial fluid but, when he later developed overt clinical signs of cardiac tamponade, a CT scan of chest and abdomen revealed a pronounced pericardial effusion. It also revealed an abscess located in the left lobe of liver and this had apparently ruptured into the pericardial sac. Culture of the purulent pericardial aspirate grew Proteus and Enterococcus; these organisms have been reported only rarely as responsible for causing purulent pericarditis. The patient was treated initially by emergency ultrasound-guided pericardiocentesis; later he required thoracotomy and pericardiectomy in order to manage persistent re-accumulation of pus in the pericardium.