PERICARDITIS, complicating meningococcal meningitis, is extremely rare. The exact incidence is not known, but in a series of reviews1-5 totaling 9,714 nonfatal cases of meningococcal infections during the sulfonamide era, this complication was found only twice. Sporadic cases6-14 have also been reported during this time, but unfortunately these reports give no information as to frequency. This paper will report another patient with pericarditis complicating meningococcal meningitis. The patient is the youngest with this complication reported to date and, in addition, her pericarditis was purulent and was massive enough to produce life-threatening cardiac tamponade.A 3-year-old white girl was admitted to St.Vincent's Hospital on Sept 16, 1962, in semicoma. Apart from a mild "cold" one week earlier, the child was well until two days before admission when she developed fever, vomiting, and headache. Her symptoms persisted and she became increasingly lethargic. She was then referred to the hospital.The past history, family history, and review of systems were noncontributory.Physical examination revealed an acutely ill, slender, semicomatose, white child. The rectal temperature was 102.0 F (38.9 C), the pulse was 120, and the respirations 36. A few pete-
A total of 1,250 selective coronary arteriographic procedures were performed by the percutaneous transfemoral technique. There were no deaths. Local complications included delayed hemorrhage in 14 patients, peripheral emboli in 2, and thrombosis in 1. Cerebral complications included fibrin or air emboli in 3 and dislodgement of a mural thrombus by the catheter in 1. Cardiac complications included ventricular fibrillation in 11, myocardial infarction in 3, and profound hypotension in 1. With routine use of a transparent manifold and removal of the guide wire distal to the arch vessels, no cerebral emboli or myocardial infarctions have occurred in the last 500 examinations.
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