Parietal pleural hematoma: plausible aortic dissection in an octogenarian on multiple antiplatelets, coumadin and oral steroids.

An 84-year-old male on oral steroids, coumadin and multiple antiplatelets for stented superficial femoral artery presented to our hospital with chest oppression. His CT scan showed cardiac tamponade with periaortic hematoma. At first, sealed rupture of aortic dissection with thrombosed false lumen was suspected. However, delayed enhancement view revealed extravasation of contrast agent, which appeared to drain into the pericardium or pericardial space. Emergency thoracotomy revealed normal aorta with several small spurting vessels of pulmonary side of the pericardium. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first reported case in the literature of a parietal pleural hematoma without known cause such as malignancy or hematologic disorders.