Cardiac herniation after resection of pericardial thymic cyst

Abstract

Cardiac herniation following pericardial resection is a rare and potentially fatal complication. We present a case of a cardiac herniation after excision of pericardial thymic cyst. The patient had cardiac arrest one hour after surgery. Re-thoracotomy in the high dependency care unit, and reduction of cardiac herniation were done. There was no case report in the literature of cardiac herniation after excision of pericardial tumor. © 2005 Published by European Association for Cardio-Thoracic Surgery. All rights reserved.