Home > Encyclopedia of Medicine > Cardiac Tamponade

Definition

Cardiac tamponade occurs when the heart is squeezed by fluid that collects inside the sac that surrounds it.

Description

The heart is surrounded by a sac called the pericardium. When this sac becomes filled with fluid, the liquid presses on the heart, preventing the lower chambers of the heart from properly filling with blood.

Because the lower chambers (the ventricles) cannot fill with the correct amount of blood, less than normal amounts of blood reach the lungs and the rest of the body. This condition is very serious and can be fatal if not treated.

Causes and symptoms

Fluid can collect inside the pericardium and compress the heart when the kidneys do not properly remove waste from the blood, when the pericardium swells from unknown causes, from infection, or when the pericardium is damaged by cancer. Blunt or...