AN OVERVIEW OF NON-TRAUMATIC CARDIAC TAMPONADE: A CAUSE OF SUDDEN AND UNEXPECTED DEATH – CASE SERIES.

Cardiac tamponade – a medical emergency where excess amounts of fluid accumulate in the pericardial sac compressing the heart, reducing cardiac output, and leading to cardiogenic shock, can present as sudden death if not diagnosed and treated promptly. Cardiac tamponade has varied etiology, with traumatic causes and non-traumatic origins like idiopathic pericarditis, neoplastic disease, tuberculosis, rupture of acute myocardial infarction, rupture of aortic dissection, cardiac operation, or treatment with anticoagulants. As little as 200 ml of blood can produce cardiac tamponade, when the fluid develops rapidly, in rupture of acute myocardial infarction or acute type A aortic dissection. This study investigates three cases of sudden death where an autopsy revealed cardiac tamponade as the primary cause of death. Detailed autopsies performed to identify the underlying cause of cardiac tamponade revealed rupture of acute myocardial infarction, and acute type A aneurysmal aortic dissection, along with another notable finding of atherosclerotic plaques in coronary artery and aorta.