Haemopericardium in hypercoagulability by diabetes and hypertension

In literature diabetes and hypertension are associated with hypercoagulability with an increased risk of cardiovascular event. The Authors present a case of death from a cardiac rupture in a subject affected by diabetes and hypertension with a pericardial clot unusual by dimension and consistency. By a review of the literature the unusual clot seen during autopsy can be explained with problems of coagulation and/or fibrinolytic activities that can be linked to both patient’s pathologies. The unusual coagulated haemopericardium has compromised the cardiac kinetics causing acute heart failure with pulmonary edema and respiratory failure. The unusual coagulation of this pericardial effusion seen at autopsy should at least raise the suspicion of a diabetic or hypertensive disease suffered by the subject in life.