Congenital absence of the left pericardium presenting as cardiogenic shock: a case report
Juliette Piccoli, Elodie Phamisith, Marine Duchaine, Fabrice Vanhuyse, Juan-Pablo Maureira, Edoardo Zancanaro, Giulia Bruno, A Shaheer Ahmed, Giorgia Benzoni · 2026
Read Congenital absence of the left pericardium presenting as cardiogenic shock: a case report by Juliette Piccoli, Elodie Phamisith, Marine Duchaine, Fabrice Vanhuyse, Juan-Pablo Maureira, Edoardo Zancanaro, Giulia Bruno, A Shaheer Ahmed, Giorgia Benzoni (2026) in the Tower of Babel, a free online library of public-domain works preserved in clean, searchable text. No sign-up. The full text is served as a plain-text file at a predictable URL, where text is present: https://antarctic-labs.com/tower-of-babel/pmc-13192430.txt.
Description
Piccoli and co-authors describe a rare birth defect that nearly kills a grown man. A 65-year-old arrives in cardiogenic shock with alarming heart tracings and severe blood acidity. Scans rule out a torn aorta but show the heart rotated far to the left, hinting that the sac around it never formed on that side.
Emergency surgery confirms the left pericardium is entirely missing. Surgeons move the heart back and fit a replacement patch. The man slowly recovers, needs brief kidney support, and leaves for rehabilitation. The authors urge doctors to keep this defect in mind when shock comes with an oddly displaced heart, since quick repair can save the patient.
Catalog record
| CREATOR | Juliette Piccoli, Elodie Phamisith, Marine Duchaine, Fabrice Vanhuyse, Juan-Pablo Maureira, Edoardo Zancanaro, Giulia Bruno, A Shaheer Ahmed, Giorgia Benzoni |
|---|---|
| YEAR | 2026 |
| COLLECTION | PAPERS |
| FORMAT | TXT |
| FILE SIZE | 14 KB |
| VERSION | 1.0 |
| LICENSE | CC BY 4.0 |
| RIGHTS | CC BY |
| SOURCE | Europe PMC |