A 74-year-old woman presented with a request for a second antireflux surgery seven years after the primary surgery. Because of the previous surgical intervention, an upper median laparotomy was used. Mesh-reinforced hiatoplasty with anterior fundophrenicopexy was performed as an antireflux procedure. A 6 × 6 cm prolene mesh was applied and fixed to the diaphragm with 10 helical staples. A few hours postoperatively, a decrease in blood pressure occurred and the subsequent computed tomography (CT) scan confirmed suspected cardiac tamponade. An emergency relaparotomy with pericardial fenestration was performed. Venous bleeding from the myocardium of the right ventricle, probably caused by a fundophrenicopexy suture, was stopped by resuturing, the pericardium was left open, and the left hemithorax was drained. The patient could be discharged on postoperative day 24.
An 82-year-old man presented with an 8-cm mixed hiatal hernia with grade IV esophagitis. Surgical treatment consisted of laparoscopically mesh-augmented hiatoplasty with anterior fundophrenicopexy. Because of accidental rupture of the right crus of the diaphragm, a 15 × 15 cm prolene mesh was necessary to reconstruct the hiatus. The mesh was fixed by 16 helical tacks. During the first 24 postoperative hours, deteriorating oxygen saturation with increasing dyspnea was most notable. After 48 h, the patient experienced severe retrosternal pressure with simultaneous tachyarrhythmia and consecutive circulatory failure. The patient died despite resuscitation attempts. The autopsy revealed cardiac tamponade originating from an epicardial vascular erosion caused by one of the helical tacks.