HYDROPNEUMOPERICARDIUM

Abstract

Cases of hydropneumopericardium are of rare occurrence and in a search of the literature for the past hundred years only seventy-six cases besides the one reported here were found. I believe that this is approximately the total number, as all the references that could be located have been exhausted. In connection with the rarity of the condition it is of interest to note that Schrotter stated that in his thirty-five years at the City Hospital of Vienna he never saw a case, nor did Skoda, his predecessor. The case reported here was referred to me by Dr. Cary Gamble, who kindly permitted me to make it a text for this paper. A white man, aged 61, a machinist, came into the hospital, Jan. 24, 1930. His mother died of old age, his father died of heat stroke. Four siblings are living and well, one brother died of uremia, one brother