Continuous drainage for the treatment of gastric cancer with pericardial metastasis and cardiac tamponade: A case report

KEY CLINICAL MESSAGE: Signet‐ring cell gastric carcinomas presenting as pericardial effusion early in diagnosis are rare and associated with high mortality and a poor prognosis. There are two interesting aspects of this case: primary gastric carcinoma presenting as cardiac tamponade and the metastatic behavior of gastric signet‐ring cell carcinoma. ABSTRACT: This report describes an 83‐year‐old man diagnosed to have cardiac tamponade due to massive pericardial effusion. A cytological analysis of the pericardial effusion disclosed adenocarcinoma. The patient was treated with continuous pericardial drainage and the amount of pericardial effusion decreased.