Abstract
Objective: To evaluate the risk and effectiveness of pericardiocentesis in primary and repeat cardiac tamponade Design: Retrospective analysis. Setting: Intensive care unit in a medical university hospital. Patients: Sixty-three consecutively admitted patients with cardiac tamponade. Interventions: In all patients pericardiocentesis was performed via the subxiphoid pathway after echocardiographic detection of the pericardial effusion. Measurements and results: There was no adverse event in patients undergoing primary pericardiocentesis, which was sufficient to resolve pericardial effusion in 51 of 63 patients (81 %). However, repeat pericardiocentesis necessitated by the recurrence of symptomatic pericardial effusion yielded suboptimal results in 10 of 12 patients (83 %). Conclusion: Pericardiocentesis is the treatment of choice for primary symptomatic pericardial effusion. In recurrent pericardial effusion surgical approaches appear to be preferable.
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Received: 27 August 1999 Final revision received: 18 January 2000 Accepted: 28 February 2000
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Bastian, A., Meißner, A., Lins, M. et al. Pericardiocentesis: differential aspects of a common procedure. Intensive Care Med 26, 572–576 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1007/s001340051206
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s001340051206