Isolated left ventricular collapse in rheumatic heart disease with tamponade.

Echocardiography in a 23-year-old woman with chronic rheumatic heart disease revealed severe mitral and tricuspid stenosis, severe tricuspid regurgitation with severe pulmonary hypertension, and mild-to-moderate pericardial effusion that resulted in cardiac tamponade with isolated left ventricular collapse. The left ventricle became the victim as this was the only low pressure chamber. This report emphasizes the role of echocardiography in the diagnosis and early recognition of atypical clinical and hemodynamic manifestations of cardiac tamponade.