©The Author(s) 2017. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Cardiol. May 26, 2017; 9(5): 466-469
Published online May 26, 2017. doi: 10.4330/wjc.v9.i5.466
Published online May 26, 2017. doi: 10.4330/wjc.v9.i5.466
Cough induced syncope: A hint to cardiac tamponade diagnosis
Roberto Ramirez, Glenmore Lasam, Department of Medicine, Atlantic Health System-Overlook Medical Center, Summit, NJ 07901, United States
Author contributions: Both authors contributed to the manuscript.
Institutional review board statement: As per the Institutional Review Board (IRB) of the Atlantic Health System, an IRB approval is not needed for case report.
Informed consent statement: The patient in the case report gave an informed verbal and telephone consent.
Conflict-of-interest statement: Both authors declare no conflicts of interests.
Correspondence to: Glenmore Lasam, MD, Department of Medicine, Atlantic Health System-Overlook Medical Center, 99 Beauvoir Avenue, Summit, NJ 07901, United States. glenmore_md@yahoo.com
Telephone: +1-908-5222987 Fax: +1-908-5220804
Received: October 15, 2016
Peer-review started: October 19, 2016
First decision: November 14, 2016
Revised: January 10, 2017
Accepted: February 8, 2017
Article in press: February 13, 2017
Published online: May 26, 2017
Processing time: 217 Days and 4 Hours
Peer-review started: October 19, 2016
First decision: November 14, 2016
Revised: January 10, 2017
Accepted: February 8, 2017
Article in press: February 13, 2017
Published online: May 26, 2017
Processing time: 217 Days and 4 Hours
Core Tip
Core tip: Cough-induced syncope should be a hint towards the consideration of either pericardial effusion or cardiac tamponade. Aside from the medical history and the diagnostic imaging modalities to include echocardiogram and chest computed tomography, clinical evaluation to explore pulsus paradoxus is imperative which has a high sensitivity in the diagnosis of cardiac tamponade. Timely diagnosis of cardiac tamponade because of these clues translate into prompt intervention to prevent the deleterious complications associated with it.