Expansile lake of translucency in pericardial effusion. A manifestation of left ventricle to pericardial fistula from rupture of tuberculosis myocardial abscess

ABSTRACT

A 12 year old boy was admitted to a District hospital with history of abdominal pain, and persistent vomiting of several days duration. Exploratory laparotomy was done and terminal small intestine appearances were suggestive of ileocaecal tuberculosis. During post operative course he was found to have large bilateral pleural effusions on chest x-ray. Subsequently his general condition deteriorated and he was then shifted to tertiary care hospital where chest intubation was done. Echocardiography revealed large pericardial effusion with tamponade which was drained with a pigtail catheter, kept in situ for intermittent drainage. Clinical workup and investigations were consistent with disseminated tuberculosis for which anti-tuberculosis treatment was started. A month later, echocardiography was repeated for removal of pigtail catheter which revealed lake of translucency within the small residual pericardial fluid which was expansile with cardiac cycle. This was further evaluated with colour and colour M-mode. [Panel A,B,C,D]. Findings were suggestive of fistulous communication between left ventricular cavity and pericardial space secondary to tuberculous myocardial abscess rupture confirmed on histopathology post-operatively. What lends novelty to this case is that this serious but apparently innocuous looking finding could easily have been overlooked in a casual examination