Spontaneous Tension Pneumopericardium

Abstract

SPONTANEOUS pneumopericardium itself is a rare entity that was first described in 1844 by Bricheteau.1 Rigler2 reviewed 72 cases in 1925, and Shackelford3 77 cases six years later, in great detail, and they classified the condition according to etiology. Harp and Peeke,4 in 1949, and Rosenbaum,5 in 1964, reported 22 additional cases.Benign gastric ulcers as a cause for spontaneous pneumopericardium was reviewed by Romhilt6 in 1965. He found a total of 11 cases, nine of which were due to abscess formation after perforation of an ulcer, with subsequent dissection through the diaphragm and pericardium. One case followed a direct . . .