Cardiac tamponade as the initial presentation of malignancy

We describe a series of five patients who had cardiac tamponade at the time of initial presentation as a result of extracardiac malignancy. Three cases had adenocarcinoma and two had squamous cell carcinoma. The diagnosis of bronchogenic carcinoma was established after appropriate investigations in three cases. One patient possibly had a primary malignancy of the gastro-intestinal tract. The relevant literature is reviewed.