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CASE REPORT article

Front. Cardiovasc. Med.
Sec. Intensive Care Cardiovascular Medicine
Volume 11 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fcvm.2024.1539900
This article is part of the Research Topic Case Reports in Intensive Care Cardiovascular Medicine: 2024 View all articles

A Crushing Sensation: A Rare Case of Mediastinal Germ Cell Tumor Causing Cardiac Tamponade

Provisionally accepted
Kevin S Tang Kevin S Tang *Emin Zargarian Emin Zargarian Pranav M Patel Pranav M Patel
  • University of California, Irvine, Irvine, United States

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Cardiac tamponade often presents as external compression of the heart by pericardial fluid leading to hemodynamic instability, but rarely may be due to compression by a solid mass. We present a case of tamponade-like physiology resulting from a large mediastinal tumor. This is an unusual phenomenon that is rarely described in the literature, and the optimal management remains controversial. This report reviews the clinical considerations for this rare pathophysiology; definitive therapy requires involvement of a multidisciplinary approach for hemodynamic optimization and mass removal.

    Keywords: Cardiac Tamponade, Mediastinal tumor, Cardiac critical care, germ cell tumor (GCT), Pericardial Effusion

    Received: 05 Dec 2024; Accepted: 30 Dec 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Tang, Zargarian and Patel. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Kevin S Tang, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, United States

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