History of Cardiac Tamponade

MR Physical Exam Session

Elisabeth of Wittelsbach• Queen of Hungary, empress of Austria

• Incognito trip to Geneva, Switzerland in September 1898• Stabbed by Luigi Lucheni, an Italian anarchist, while waiting

to board a steaboat• Fell to the ground, but then was helped to her feat without

consequence• Minutes later, became pale and lost consciousness• Rushed to a local practitioner, who noted a coin-sized area

of blood under her left breast.– Wound probed but she died within minutes

Partial autopsy report

• “Lesions described have been produced by a long instrument of triangular shape with more or less blunted edges. The general direction of the wound corresponds to a line slightly directed from top to bottom and from outside to inside. Death was undoubtedly caused by a progressive and slow blood leak, sufficient to compress the heart and to suspend its functions. The finding of a voluminous blood clot occupying the pericardium is absolute proof of it.”