Which triad is associated with cardiac tamponade?

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Multiple Choice

Which triad is associated with cardiac tamponade?

Cardiac tamponade occurs when fluid around the heart raises intrapericardial pressure and prevents the heart from filling properly during diastole, which lowers the amount of blood pumped each beat. The defining signs come from this reduced filling and resulting shock: low blood pressure, muffled heart sounds because the fluid dampens the heart’s sounds, and neck veins that are visibly distended from the backup of blood. This combination—hypotension, muffled heart sounds, and distended neck veins—is the classic triad known as Beck’s triad, pointing to tamponade in a trauma patient. The other options don’t fit because they either include hypertension, or they mix signals that aren’t specific to tamponade, like tachypnea with chest pain or jaundice with edema.

Cardiac tamponade occurs when fluid around the heart raises intrapericardial pressure and prevents the heart from filling properly during diastole, which lowers the amount of blood pumped each beat. The defining signs come from this reduced filling and resulting shock: low blood pressure, muffled heart sounds because the fluid dampens the heart’s sounds, and neck veins that are visibly distended from the backup of blood. This combination—hypotension, muffled heart sounds, and distended neck veins—is the classic triad known as Beck’s triad, pointing to tamponade in a trauma patient. The other options don’t fit because they either include hypertension, or they mix signals that aren’t specific to tamponade, like tachypnea with chest pain or jaundice with edema.

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