Tuberculous pericardial effusion in an antenatal female: A rare case report

Abstract

Introduction: Tuberculous pericardial effusion is a rare clinical condition especially in an Antenatal female, leading to cardiac tamponade and may cause to maternal morbidity and mortality. Case presentation: A 25 year antenatal female was admitted to our hospital with complaints of fever, chest pain and easy fatigability. Clinically diagnosis of pyrexia of unknown origin was made and investigations to rule out all possible causes of fever in pregnancy were non-conclusive. 2-D electrocardiogram demonstrated massive pericardial effusion. The pericardial fluid was aspirated and was sent for biochemical and microbiological investigations. The aspirated fluid did not grow any organism in pyogenic and fungal culture but showed Acid fast bacilli in Z.N stain. Patient was treated with anti-tubercular drugs and improvement was seen in clinical condition of the patient. Conclusion: Diagnosis of this entity is difficult and requires high clinical suspicion. The time span to diagnose this clinical entity is crucial for the life of the patient. This rare case is being reported to emphasize the importance of simple Acid fast staining even today in the era of molecular diagnostics which may help in early diagnosis and thus prompt initiation of therapy.