Mixed bacterial infection of the pericardium.

Polymicrobic bacterial infection of the pericardium was detected in a 59-year-old patient ultimately proven to have esophageal carcinoma. Such infections are becoming more frequent, often combine gram-negative bacilli and anerobes, and may be deceptively mild clinically. Origin from an occult head and neck or gastrointestinal focus rather than from pulmonary (pneumococcal) or distant (staphylococcal) sources distinguishes these infections. Newer diagnostic techniques (computerized tomography and echocardiography) coupled with surgical drainage and appropriate antibiotic therapy may improve the current 67% mortality.