PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - D Bramley
AU  - H Dowd
AU  - C Muwanga
TI  - Tension empyema as a reversible cause for cardiac arrest
AID  - 10.1136/emj.2004.019562
DP  - 2005 Dec 01
TA  - Emergency Medicine Journal
PG  - 919--920
VI  - 22
IP  - 12
4099  - http://emj.bmj.com/content/22/12/919.short
4100  - http://emj.bmj.com/content/22/12/919.full
SO  - Emerg Med J2005 Dec 01; 22
AB  - Empyema is a well recognised complication of pneumonia.1 We report a case of pulseless electrical activity (PEA) treated in the emergency department (ED) with intercostal tube drainage based on clinical findings, where a tension empyema was found to be the cause. To our knowledge, this is the first report of actual cardiac arrest from this cause.