Water bottle sign – refers to the shape of the cardiac silhouette on erect frontal chest x-rays in patients who have a very large pericardial effusion. The fluid, often measuring a litre or more, causes the pericardium to sag mimicking an old-fashioned water bottle sitting on a bench. Typically the effusion has accumulated over many weeks (e.g. in patients with malignancy) and the pericardium has gradually stretched. Coronal CT image is shown for correlation.
from our tumblr blog: http://radiologysigns.tumblr.com/post/27608746064
http://radiologysigns.tumblr.com/
