From Surf Wiki (app.surf) — the open knowledge base

Beck's triad (cardiology)

Field	Value
synonym	acute tamponade triad
image	Blausen 0164 CardiacTamponade 02.png
image_size	225px
caption	Hemopericardium, a possible cause of cardiac tamponade
specialty
differential	cardiac tamponade

Beck's triad is a collection of three medical signs associated with acute cardiac tamponade, a medical emergency when excessive fluid accumulates in the pericardial sac around the heart and impairs its ability to pump blood. The signs are low arterial blood pressure, distended neck veins, and distant, muffled heart sounds.

Narrowed pulse pressure might also be observed. The concept was developed in 1935 by Claude Beck, a resident and later Professor of Cardiovascular Surgery at Case Western Reserve University.

Components

The components are:

Hypotension with a narrowed pulse pressure
Jugular venous distention (JVD)
Muffled heart sounds

Physiology

The rising central venous pressure is evidenced by distended jugular veins while in a non-supine position. It is caused by reduced diastolic filling of the right ventricle, due to pressure from the adjacent expanding pericardial sac. This results in a backup of fluid into the veins draining into the heart, most notably, the jugular veins. In severe hypovolemia, the neck veins may not be distended.

Clinical use

Although the full triad is present only in a minority of cases of acute cardiac tamponade, presence of the triad is considered pathognomonic for the condition.

References

Sternbach G. (1988). "Claude Beck: cardiac compression triads". J Emerg Med.
Beck CS. (1935). "Two cardiac compression triads". JAMA.
"Biography of Claude S. Beck".
(2022). "Hypovolemic Shock". StatPearls Publishing.
Demetriades D. (1986). "Cardiac wounds. Experience with 70 patients". Ann. Surg..

Info: Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

symptoms-and-signs:-cardiac medical-emergencies medical-triads 3-(number)

Want to explore this topic further?

Ask Mako anything about Beck's triad (cardiology) — get instant answers, deeper analysis, and related topics.

Research with Mako

Free with your Surf account

Content sourced from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

This content may have been generated or modified by AI. CloudSurf Software LLC is not responsible for the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of AI-generated content. Always verify important information from primary sources.

Report