Acute cardiac tamponade: presenting sign of acute leukaemia

Cardiac tamponade is a life-threatening emergency that has to be promptly recognised. We report the case of a young adult patient with an acute cardiac tamponade as a rare presenting symptom of T-cell acute leukaemia. An emergency pericardiocentesis was performed with immediate relief of the symptoms. The aetiology was diagnosed on the basis of the serological hyperleucocytosis and the anatomopathological analysis of the pericardial fluid. The patient was subsequently referred for chemotherapy. Acute leukaemia presenting with pericardial tamponade as a first sign is rare, and described only in a few case reports. Furthermore, we discuss the diagnostic and therapeutic measures of haemodynamic unstable cardiac tamponade.