Gerfer Stephen, Schlachtenberger Georg, Eghbalzadeh Kaveh, Wippermann Jens, Wahlers Thorsten
Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Heart Center, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany.
Department of Cardiac and Thoracic Surgery, University Hospital Magdeburg, Magdeburg, Germany.
Perfusion. 2019 Sep;34(6):516-518. doi: 10.1177/0267659119826827. Epub 2019 Feb 13.
Pericardial cysts are rare, abnormal, benign and usually congenital anomalies with an estimated incidence of 1:100.000 and are caused by an incomplete coalescence of foetal lacunae of pericardium development. The size of pericardial cysts varies from 1 to 5 cm and generally do not cause any symptoms. Pectus excavatum is one of the most frequent chest wall abnormalities with a caved-in appearance of the chest and mostly of unknown pathogenesis. We present a rare case of constrictive pericarditis with a huge pericardial cyst (11.6 × 8.7 × 7.1 cm) and pectus excavatum which led to compression of the heart and life-threatening cardiac arrhythmias.
