Pericardial tamponade due to main pulmonary artery dissection in a young patient with eisenmenger's syndrome

Abstract

Spontaneous pulmonary artery dissection is a rare catastrophic emergency. Its clinical course and natural history is not well studied due to paucity of available cases in the literature, so optimal management guidelines are lacking. Easy availability of bedside echocardiography has made early diagnosis of these near-miss cases possible. We describe a case of a 36-year-old male, a known case of Eisenmenger's syndrome (secondary to unoperated large ventricular septal defect), who presented to us in cardiogenic shock due to spontaneous main pulmonary artery dissection readily diagnosed and confirmed by bedside three-dimensional echocardiography.