A 35-year-old male with a history of diabetes and pericarditis, status post pericardiectomy 3 years ago, presented with a painful lesion on his anterior chest wall. One month prior, the patient reported a bump at his sternotomy scar base which extruded a piece of suture when squeezed and subsequently healed. Two days ago, the patient developed diffuse right-sided chest pain. During the past 24 hours, an enlarging, erythematous, painful, non-draining lesion developed at the base of his scar. He reports subjective fever. He denies shortness of breath, exertional chest pain, nausea, and vomiting.
SAEM Clinical Image Series: What Lies Beneath?
2021-01-10T20:36:12-08:00
By: Jamie Fried, Jessica Tsao, MD and Lindsay Davis, MD |Editors: Josh Bukowski, MD, Moises Gallegos, MD, MPH