[Localized cardiac tamponade after aortic valve replacement: a case report]

We report a case of localized cardiac tamponade after aortic valve replacement. A 56-year-old man had an aortic valve replacement for his aortic valve steno-insufficiency. At 3-postoperative day, severe hypotension occurred, causing acute renal failure. There were no cardiomegaly, high central venous pressure, nor echo-free space. A mass shadow, appearing on chest X-ray at 37-postoperative day, was diagnosed as a localized tamponade by means of a computed tomography and a radioangiography at 38 postoperative day. After the spontaneous drainage of old bloody effusion from the partially opened wound in mid-line, his cardiac and renal failure improved rapidly. When the hematoma is localized, computed tomography is most diagnostic while conventional echo-cardiography often fails to show echo-free spaces.