<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">

<p>Neonatal pneumopericardium, a collection of air in the pericardial sac, is less common form of air leak syndrome, but unfortunately with high mortality rate. We report a rare case of male fullterm newborn who soon after birth presented with respiratory distress. Chest radiograph showed spontaneous bilateral pneumothorax after which a chest drain was placed between anterior and midaxillary line in the 5<sup>th</sup> right intercostal space. The infant soon presented with tachypnea, dyspnea, muffled heart sounds, acidosis indicating cardiorespiratory worsening. On chest radiograph ‘’Halo” sign appeared indicating pneumopericardium. We believe that spontaneous reposition of a chest drain damaged the pericardial sac which combined with ventilation mechanism (‘’Macklin effect”) most likely led to pneumopericardium. After partial chest drain extraction the infant showed signs of improvement, but had to be closely monitored due to risk of tension pneumopericardium. Careful thoracal drain placement and fixation is crucial to prevent iatrogenic pneumopericardium, which can lead to deadly tension pneumopericardium.</p>
</abstract>

Neonatal pneumopericardium, a collection of air in the pericardial sac, is less common form of air leak syndrome, but unfortunately with high mortality rate. We report a rare case of male fullterm newborn who soon after birth presented with respiratory distress. Chest radiograph showed spontaneous bilateral pneumothorax after which a chest drain was placed between anterior and midaxillary line in the 5th right intercostal space. The infant soon presented with tachypnea, dyspnea, muffled heart sounds, acidosis indicating cardiorespiratory worsening. On chest radiograph ‘’Halo” sign appeared indicating pneumopericardium. We believe that spontaneous reposition of a chest drain damaged the pericardial sac which combined with ventilation mechanism (‘’Macklin effect”) most likely led to pneumopericardium. After partial chest drain extraction the infant showed signs of improvement, but had to be closely monitored due to risk of tension pneumopericardium. Careful thoracal drain placement and fixation is crucial to prevent iatrogenic pneumopericardium, which can lead to deadly tension pneumopericardium.

Iatrogenic Pneumopericardium in a Male Full-Term Newborn with Spontaneous Pneumothorax

University of Kragujevac, Faculty of Medical Sciences

Experimental and Applied Biomedical Research (EABR)

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Neonatal pneumopericardium, a collection of air in the pericardial sac, is less common form of air leak syndrome, but unfortunately with high mortality rate....

Iatrogenic Pneumopericardium in a Male Full-Term Newborn with Spontaneous Pneumothorax

Published Online: Sep 15, 2022

Page range: -

Received: Jun 06, 2021

Accepted: Aug 22, 2021

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/sjecr-2021-0067

Keywords
Newborn, iatrogenic disease, pneumopericardium, chest tube

© 2022 Ema Jevtić et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Iatrogenic Pneumopericardium in a Male Full-Term Newborn with Spontaneous Pneumothorax

Published Online: Sep 15, 2022

Page range: -

Received: Jun 06, 2021

Accepted: Aug 22, 2021

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/sjecr-2021-0067

KeywordsNewborn, iatrogenic disease, pneumopericardium, chest tube

© 2022 Ema Jevtić et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Keywords
Newborn, iatrogenic disease, pneumopericardium, chest tube