Skip to main content
PMC home page
The Texas Heart Institute Journal logoLink to The Texas Heart Institute Journal
. 1986 Sep;13(3):333–336.

Spontaneous Mediastinal Hemorrhage Secondary to Oral Anticoagulation

Alexander Mazziotti 1, Mahmud Bangash 1, John W Maun 1
PMCID: PMC351732  PMID: 15226865

Abstract

We report a rare case of spontaneous mediastinal hemorrhage secondary to appropriate oral anticoagulation in an otherwise healthy 35-year-old woman. This case was unique in view of the patient's age and the fact that she had no underlying pathologic condition. Although the literature describes only two other cases of spontaneous mediastinal hemorrhage secondary to oral anticoagulant therapy alone, such bleeding has also been observed in patients on combined oral anticoagulant and fibrinolytic therapy and on heparin therapy. Therefore, this kind of hemorrhage should be included in the differential diagnosis of chest pain in such patients. The diagnosis is confirmed by chest X-ray films, computer tomographic scanning, and digital angiography. Supportive treatment is usually sufficient, since tamponade tends to intervene before cardiac compromise can occur. (Texas Heart Institute Journal 1986; 13:333-336)

Keywords: Mediastinal hemorrhage

Keywords: oral anticoagulation therapy

Full text

PDF
336

Images in this article

334Image
on p.334
335Image
on p.335

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Abaskaron M., Peterson G., Huang T. Y. Anterior mediastinal haematoma and left haemothorax on well-controlled oral anticoagulant therapy. Postgrad Med J. 1983 Feb;59(688):95–97. doi: 10.1136/pgmj.59.688.95. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Bart J. B. Hemomediastinum and hemothorax in mild hemophilia. South Med J. 1972 Feb;65(2):159–160. doi: 10.1097/00007611-197202000-00007. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Ellison R. T., 3rd, Corrao W. M., Fox M. J., Braman S. S. Spontaneous mediastinal hemorrhage in patients on chronic hemodialysis. Ann Intern Med. 1981 Dec;95(6):704–706. doi: 10.7326/0003-4819-95-6-704. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Jordan F. T., Harness J. K., Thompson N. W. Spontaneous cervical hematoma: a rare manifestation of parathyroid adenoma. Surgery. 1981 Jun;89(6):697–700. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Mazziotti A. Spontaneous mediastinal hemorrhage. Arch Intern Med. 1983 Dec;143(12):2333–2333. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Packer J. M. Radiologic seminar CXXI: hemomediastinum associated with anticoagulant therapy. J Miss State Med Assoc. 1972 Oct;13(10):434–435. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Singh S., Ptacin M. J., Bamrah V. S. Spontaneous mediastinal hemorrhage. A complication of intracoronary streptokinase infusion for coronary thrombosis. Arch Intern Med. 1983 Mar;143(3):562–563. doi: 10.1001/archinte.143.3.562. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Stilwell M. E., Weisbrod G. L., Ilves R. Spontaneous mediastinal hematoma. J Can Assoc Radiol. 1981 Mar;32(1):60–61. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Turetz F., Steinberg H., Kahn A. Spontaneous anterior mediastinal hematoma: a complication of heparin therapy. J Am Med Womens Assoc. 1979 Feb;34(2):85–88. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Texas Heart Institute Journal are provided here courtesy of Texas Heart Institute

RESOURCES