TY - JOUR T1 - Tension empyema as a reversible cause for cardiac arrest JF - Emergency Medicine Journal JO - Emerg Med J SP - 919 LP - 920 DO - 10.1136/emj.2004.019562 VL - 22 IS - 12 AU - D Bramley AU - H Dowd AU - C Muwanga Y1 - 2005/12/01 UR - http://emj.bmj.com/content/22/12/919.abstract N2 - 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. ER -