Cardiac Tamponade as Cause of Respiratory Distress and Cardiac Arrest

Cardiac tamponade diagnosis sometimes requires high index of clinical suspicion. It is an emergency situation whose rapid diagnosis and treatment, drainage of the pericardial effusion, can be life saving. I describe a case of cardiac tamponade whose initial diagnosis was pulmonary embolism in a 72-year-old female brought to our Hospital with shortness of breath over the last three weeks.