Case 222: Pericardioesophageal Fistula after Cardiac Radiofrequency Ablation

History A 56-year-old woman presented to the emergency department after a cross-country flight. While in flight, she experienced sudden onset of epigastric and midsternal chest pain with shortness of breath. Her symptoms improved markedly after she received oxygen on board, and she finished the flight without further incident. Once home later that night, the pain recurred, and she was taken to the hospital. Her history included chronic pain syndrome, hypertension, and refractory paroxysmal atrial fibrillation, for which she had undergone radiofrequency ablation on two occasions. Her most recent ablation was 1 month prior. Upon arrival in the emergency department, her vital signs were within normal limits, and an electrocardiogram was unchanged from baseline. A chest radiograph obtained at the time of physical examination was unchanged from baseline. Given her recent travel history, there was suspicion for a pulmonary embolism. Ventilation-perfusion imaging and lower extremity Doppler ultrasonography were performed (images not shown) and revealed no evidence of pulmonary embolism or lower extremity thrombus. Because of the patient's clinical stability and because her symptoms had improved, she declined admission for observation and returned home against medical advice. The patient returned to the emergency department 2 days later in severe distress, with unstable vital signs, a jaundiced appearance, and substantial pain in her chest and abdomen. Her creatinine level was 4.4 mg/dL (388.9 μmol/L) (increased from 0.9 mg/dL [79.6 μmol/L] 2 days prior). Frontal and lateral radiographs of the chest were obtained and indicated increasing pericardial effusion. Bedside echocardiography enabled confirmation of these radiographic findings, and pericardiocentesis was performed. The patient's condition immediately improved, and she was admitted to the cardiac intensive care unit. Her symptoms recurred 3 days later, and a pericardial drain was placed. Fluid cultures were preliminarily positive for enterococcus and gram-negative rods. After drain placement, she was scheduled for definitive treatment of recurrent symptomatic effusion. The preoperative work-up included a water-soluble contrast material-enhanced (iodixanol, 320 mg of iodine per milliliter) esophagram with computed tomography (CT) of the chest performed immediately thereafter.