acute mediastinitis

an often fatal inflammation of the mediastinum, with sudden onset of chills, fever, and prostration. Other symptoms are severe chest pain and sometimes tachypnea, tachycardia, pneumomediastinum, and hemomediastinum. It is usually secondary to perforation of the esophagus by forceful vomiting or trauma; less often it may be caused by spread of an infectious process from some adjacent organ or area. There may be obstruction of structures in the area, such as the superior vena cava or the tracheobronchial tree.