Frequency of recurrence of pericardial tamponade in patients with extended versus nonextended pericardial catheter drainage

Recurrence of pericardial tamponade is relatively common after pericardiocentesis. We evaluated the clinical and procedural predictors of recurrent pericardial tamponade after pericardiocentesis. We included 157 consecutive patients with pericardial tamponade (age 62 ± 18 years, 54% men) who had undergone pericardiocentesis from 2000 to 2007. An intrapericardial catheter was used for prolonged drainage of the pericardial effusion (78% of cases) at the discretion of the operator. The overall recurrence rate 11.8 ± 0.6 months after pericardiocentesis was 20% and the mean interval to recurrence was 1.2 ± 2.1 months. However, patients with extended catheter drainage had a reduced recurrence rate of 12% compared to 52% in patients without extended drainage (p <0.001). In the Cox regression modeling, absence of extended drainage (hazard ratio [HR] 4.1, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.7 to 10, p = 0.002), incomplete drainage of pericardial effusion (HR 9.7, 95% CI 3.6 to 22.7, p <0.001), loculated effusion (HR 11.1, 95% CI 2.9 to 43, p = 0.001), and malignancy (HR 3.3, 95% CI 1.8 to 10.3, p = 0.037) independently correlated with recurrence at 1 year. In conclusion, extended pericardial drainage after catheter placement is associated with a reduced recurrence of pericardial tamponade after pericardiocentesis.     

Pericardiocentesis: insertion of a pericardial catheter.

Pericardiocentesis is a lifesaving procedure in cardiac tamponade but is associated with significant and often life threatening complications. A patient is described in whom a catheter was inserted into the pericardium. This provided for prolonged pericardial drainage of purulent fluid and has the potential for decreasing the risk of this procedure.     

Neoplastic pericardial disease

The spread of metastatic cancer to the pericardium is the most common cause of cardiac tamponade in medical inpatient settings. Lung cancer, breast cancer, and the hematologic malignancies account for some three quarters of the cases. Occasionally, usually in lung cancer, the pericardial involvement is the first clinical presentation of the neoplastic disease. Differential diagnosis includes radiation pericarditis and cardiac toxicity from chemotherapeutic drugs, as well as any of the causes of pericardial disease in patients without neoplasm. Idiopathic nonneoplastic, noninflammatory pericardial effusion is surprisingly common in cancer patients. The initial cardiac tamponade may be managed with either needle tap or subxiphoid pericardiostomy. Pericardiocentesis, performed with echocardiographic guidance and followed by percutaneous catheter drainage for several days, is safe and effective in neoplastic pericardial effusion. It may be the only local therapy that is needed. Further local treatment, for those patients who develop recurrent cardiac tamponade after an initial drainage procedure, may include tetracycline sclerosis of the pericardial space, instillation of cancer chemotherapeutic agents, radiation therapy, and pericardiectomy. No controlled clinical trials of these methods of treatment are available. The choice of therapy is based on various considerations in individual patients, particularly the patient's general condition and the likelihood of a long-term response to treatment of the systemic neoplastic disease.     

Diagnosis and management of pericardial effusion

Pericardial effusion is a common finding in everyday clinical practice.The first challenge to the clinician is to try to establish an etiologic diagnosis.Sometimes,the pericardial effusion can be easily related to a known underlying disease,such as acute myocardial infarction, cardiac surgery,end-stage renal disease or widespread metastatic neoplasm.When no obvious cause is apparent,some clinical findings can be useful to establish a diagnosis of probability.The presence of acute inflammatory signs(chest pain,fever,pericardial friction rub) is predictive for acute idiopathic pericarditis irrespective of the size of the effusion or the presence or absence of tamponade.Severe effusion with absence of inflammatory signs and absence of tamponade is predictive for chronic idiopathic pericardial effusion,and tamponade without inflammatory signs for neoplastic pericardial effusion.Epidemiologic considerations are very important,as in developed countries acute idiopathic pericarditis and idiopathic pericardial effusion are the most common etiologies,but in some underdeveloped geographic areas tuberculous pericarditis is the leading cause of pericardial effusion.The second point is the evaluation of the hemodynamic compromise caused by pericardial fluid.Cardiac tamponade is not an"all or none"phenomenon,but a syndrome with a continuum of severity ranging from an asymptomatic elevationof intrapericardial pressure detectable only through hemodynamic methods to a clinical tamponade recognized by the presence of dyspnea,tachycardia,jugular venous distension,pulsus paradoxus and in the more severe cases arterial hypotension and shock.In the middle,echocardiographic tamponade is recognized by the presence of cardiac chamber collapses and characteristic alterations in respiratory variations of mitral and tricuspid flow.Medical treatment of pericardial effusion is mainly dictated by the presence of inflammatory signs and by the underlying disease if present.Pericardial drainage is mandatory when clinical tamponade is present.In the absence of clinical tamponade,examination of the pericardial fluid is indicated when there is a clinical suspicion of purulent pericarditis and in patients with underlying neoplasia.Patients with chronic massive idiopathic pericardial effusion should also be submitted to pericardial drainage because of the risk of developing unexpected tamponade.The selection of the pericardial drainage procedure depends on the etiology of the effusion.Simple pericardiocentesis is usually sufficient in patients with acute idiopathic or viral pericarditis.Purulent pericarditis should be drained surgically,usually through subxiphoid pericardiotomy. Neoplastic pericardial effusion constitutes a more difficult challenge because reaccumulation of pericardial fluid is a concern.The therapeutic possibilities include extended indwelling pericardial catheter,percutaneous pericardiostomy and intrapericardial instillation of antineoplastic and sclerosing agents.Massive chronic idiopathic pericardial effusions do not respond to medical treatment and tend to recur after pericardiocentesis, so wide anterior pericardiectomy is finally necessary in many cases.     

Percutaneous balloon pericardial window for patients with malignant pericardial effusion and tamponade

We performed percutaneous balloon pericardial window (PBPW) in 8 patients (age 40 to 70 yrs; 4 men, 4 women) with malignant pericardial effusion and tamponade. Pericardial window was indicated because they continued to drain >100 ml/day of pericardial fluid through the pigtail catheter for >/3 days. A 0.038 inch guidewire was advanced through the pigtail catheter into the pericardial space and then the catheter was removed. A 20 mm diameter, 3 cm long balloon dilating catheter was advanced to straddle the parietal pericardium. Manual inflations were performed until the waist produced by the pericardium disappeared. All patients tolerated the procedure well with minimal discomfort and with no complications. A left or bilateral pleural effusion occurred in all patients after PBPW. No patient developed recurrent pericardial tamponade at a mean follow-up of 6 ± 2 months. Thus, PBPW is a useful and safe technique to avoid surgery in patients with malignant pericardial effusion and tamponade.     

Percutaneous pericardial catheter drainage in childhood.

The clinical course of 41 consecutive pediatric patients (mean age 7.6 +/- 5.8 years, weight 27 +/- 22 kg) who underwent percutaneous pericardial drain placement during a 3-year period were reviewed. The most common diagnoses were malignancy (20%), postpericardiotomy syndrome (17%), aseptic pericarditis (12%), and patients recovering from a Fontan type of operation (12%). Indications for drainage included increasing effusion size determined by 2-dimensional echocardiogram (48%), clinical deterioration (33%) and echocardiographic evidence of hemodynamic compromise (12%). Only 3 (7%) patients had clinical evidence of cardiac tamponade. Drainage catheter placement was accomplished percutaneously from the subxiphoid approach. Insertion was successful in all but 1 patient (98%) and successful evacuation of the pericardial space was achieved in 93% of patients. There was 1 death in a critically ill 2-week-old infant and 4 complications, 3 of which occurred in patients aged less than 2 years. Drainage catheters remained in position from 1 to 18 days (mean 3 +/- 3 days) with no late complications. There were 3 instances (7%) of drainage catheter occlusion. These data support the notion that placement of a percutaneous pericardial catheter is safe and effective in providing definitive drainage of the pericardial space in the pediatric age group. Children younger than age 2 years may be at increased risk for complications.     

Evaluation of children with a large pericardial effusion and cardiac tamponade

OBJECTIVES: Large pericardial effusions and cardiac tamponade are rare in childhood.The aim of this study was to evaluate the aetiological factors and clinical findings of large pericardial effusion and cardiac tamponade in children. METHODS: We reviewed retrospectively the records of 10 (6 male, 4 female) patients (mean age: 8.05 +/- 4.4 y) with the diagnosis of large pericardial effusion and cardiac tamponade requiring pericardiocentesis and pericardial drainage between 2002 and 2004. RESULTS: After extensive diagnostic investigation we detected that three patients had tuberculosis, one patient had uraemic pericarditis; one patient had bacterial pericarditis; one patient had post-pericardiotomy syndrome; two patients had malignancy and two patients had no identifiable aetiology. Echocardiography-guided percutaneous pericardial puncture and pigtail catheter placement is safe and effective for initial treatment of patients with large pericardial effusion and cardiac tamponade and in most cases, initial assessment with clinical, serologic, and radiologic investigation and careful follow-up can reveal the aetiology. CONCLUSIONS: Although tuberculosis is rare in industrialized countries, in developing countries it remains one of the most important causes of large pericardial effusion and should be investigated and excluded in each patient.     

Successful treatment of refractory cardiac tamponade due to rheumatoid arthritis using pericardial drainage

Rheumatoid pericarditis occurs in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). However, cardiac tamponade due to rheumatoid pericarditis is rare; we describe a case of a 72-year-old man with a 6-year history of rheumatoid arthritis who developed rheumatoid pericarditis with recurrent cardiac tamponade. The patient experienced relapse of the cardiac tamponade despite treatment with pericardiocentesis. Therefore, the patient underwent surgical pericardial drainage. The patient was also subsequently treated with increasing doses of corticosteroid, methotrexate and leukocytapheresis. These treatments resulted in a successful outcome without any complication. This case suggests that in addition to immunosuppressive therapy, pericardial drainage should be considered in the treatment of life-threatening refractory cardiac tamponade caused by rheumatoid arthritis.     

Chronic percutaneous pericardial drainage with modified pigtail catheters in children

To determine the safety and efficacy of chronic percutaneous pericardial drainage in children, pigtail catheters were inserted over curved guidewires under fluoroscopic control into the pericardial space in 7 consecutive children with pericardial effusion. Pericardiocentesis was therapeutic (for tamponade) in 1 child, diagnostic in 4 and both therapeutic and diagnostic in 2. The children were 0.5 to 16 years old and weighed 5 to 65 kg. Underlying diagnoses included cancer (3 children), congenital heart disease (2 children) and immunodeficiency and hemolytic uremic syndrome (1 each). When unmodified pigtail catheters, designed for angiography, were used (as in the first 3 children), either the catheters clotted within 36 hours, necessitating operative pericardial drainage, or repeated heparin infusions were required to keep the catheter patent. However, when 8Fr catheters were modified by placing 0.050-inch side holes along the distal shaft, the catheters remained patent and effectively drained the pericardial space for 3 to 7 days. Heparin infusion was not required, no child managed with the modified catheters required subsequent drainage and no complications occurred. In conclusion, percutaneous pericardial drainage is safe, even in small children, and can be effective chronically if catheters with large drainage holes are used.     

Prolonged distress and clinical deterioration before pericardial drainage in patients with cardiac tamponade

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether patients with cardiac tamponade are subject to delays and clinical deterioration before undergoing echocardiography and pericardial drainage. DESIGN: Retrospective study. SETTING: The Montreal Heart Institute, Montreal, Quebec, a cardiology referral centre. PATIENTS: The charts of 50 patients who presented with tamponade were reviewed. Intervals between the appearance of symptoms, consultation, echocardiography and drainage were noted. The presence of clinical deterioration before drainage was evaluated. Causes for delays were investigated. RESULTS: Previous cardiac surgery (74%) was the most common etiology of tamponade. Symptoms were present 6.6+/-5.8 days before consultation. The delay between consultation and echocardiography was 1.2+/-2.0 days (range 0 to 12), and that between echocardiography and drainage was 0.8+/-0.9 days (range 0 to four). Patients underwent drainage 1. 9+/-2.5 days (range 0 to 16) after the initial consultation. Deterioration of the clinical status was noted in 34% of patients before pericardial drainage. An error in the initial diagnosis was present in 36% of patients; the majority of these were incorrectly diagnosed with heart failure. Another 44% of patients had no mention of either a working diagnosis in the chart at admission or the desire to rule out tamponade on the request for echocardiography. CONCLUSION: The proper diagnosis does not appear to be initially considered in up to 80% of patients who present with cardiac tamponade. Clinical deterioration occurs in approximately a third of patients during the interval between consultation and pericardial drainage.     

Percutaneous balloon pericardiotomy in patients with recurrent pericardial effusion]

BACKGROUND: Recurrent symptomatic pericardial effusion can complicate different cardiac and extracardiac diseases. When recurrent pericardial effusion after drainage with conventional catheter techniques occurred the creation of a pericardial window by open surgery used to be the unique treatment available until the recent development of percutaneous balloon pericardiotomy. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this paper is to review our initial experience with percutaneous balloon pericardiotomy for the treatment of patients with recurrent pericardial effusion. PATIENTS AND METHOD: Five patients with recurrent pericardial effusion have been treated with percutaneous pericardiotomy until now. Four patients had malignant pericardial effusion secondary to metastasis of extracardiac tumors, in one patient recurrent pericardial effusion was idiopathic. In all patients percutaneous balloon pericardiotomy was performed with a pediatric valvuloplasty balloon catheter, through a subxiphoid approach. RESULTS: Successful drainage and balloon pericardiotomy was achieved in all patients without severe complications. In all cases only one pericardial site was dilated. Minor complications were registered, which included mainly mild pleural effusion occurring in all patients with spontaneous resolution. During a mean follow-up period of 8.6 6.5 months (range 2 to 18 months) there were no recurrences of effusion or tamponade. Two patients died, 1 month and 9 months after the procedure, due to their malignant condition. CONCLUSIONS: Percutaneous balloon pericardiotomy is an easy and useful technique to manage patients with large recurrent pericardial effusion with a low r     

Treatment of malignant pericardial tamponade with sclerosis induced by instillation of bleomycin

Five patients with pericardial tamponade of neoplastic origin were treated by pericardiocentesis, drainage and local instillation of bleomycin. The pericardial effusion was adequately controlled in all patients. Survival was influenced not by the pericardial involvement, but by the natural evolution of the tumour. Side effects were minimal. The technique of drainage and bleomycin sclerosis is simple, safe, effective and inexpensive for the management of a malignant pericardial tamponade, providing all precautions necessary for diagnosis and pericardiocentesis are adequately taken.     

Local steroids in dialysis-associated pericardial effusion. A single intrapericardial administration of triamcinolone

Five patients receiving maintenance hemodialysis for end-stage renal disease underwent therapeutic pericardiocentesis for pericarditis manifested by either cardiac tamponade or effusion unresponsive to conservative therapy. Pericardiocentesis was followed by a one-time instillation of triamcinolone hexacetonide, a nonabsorbable corticosteroid, into the pericardial space with subsequent needle withdrawal. All patients had prompt hemodynamic and symptomatic improvement. Serial echocardiograms showed resolution of the pericardial effusion in all patients. Follow-up evaluation for six months to six years has shown no clinical or postmortem evidence of recurrence. This procedure appears safe and effective and potentially can obviate the need for prolonged catheter drainage or more invasive surgical procedures as therapy for these patients.     

心脏介入术并发急性心包填塞的临床分析

【】 目的 总结心脏介入术中并发急性心包填塞的防治体会。方法 回顾性分析6例心脏介入术中发生急性心包填塞患者的发病特点、发生原因及处理措施。结果 二尖瓣球囊扩张术(PBMV)中1例为房间隔穿刺位置过高致右心房穿孔而发生急性心包填塞,经紧急心外科手术救治成功,1例为送入穿刺鞘致心房穿孔所致,超声引导下心包穿刺置管引流48h后痊愈;冠状动脉介入治疗术(PCI)中1例为反复推送导丝穿破高度狭窄钙化的左前降支所致, 经紧急心外科手术救治成功,1例为急性前壁心肌梗死PCI时发生,经对症治疗及置管引流48小时后痊愈;射频消融术(RFCA)中1例为放置左上肺静脉电极导管时不慎将左心耳穿破所致,行猪尾导管引流、输血、升压等措施后心包填塞症状缓解;心脏永久性起搏器植入术中1例为电极损伤冠状静脉所致,行超声下猪尾导管心包穿刺引流及输血等治疗后,病情稳定。结论：急性心包填塞是心脏介入术的严重并发症,积极预防、及时发现、果断处理是防治的关键措施。     

经皮二尖瓣球囊成形术致急性心包填塞的原因及处理

２０７例风湿性心脏病二尖瓣狭窄病人行经皮球囊二尖瓣成形术。术中发生急性心包填塞５例。发生率为２４％。其中３例在房间隔穿刺中发生；１例套管回弹穿破左房顶部；１例原因不明。４例行紧急闭式二尖瓣分离术；１例开胸心包引流。５例均顺利恢复。结果提示：①房间隔穿刺是导致急性心包填塞的常见原因。②心影突然增大，心搏变弱，动脉血压下降及病人面色苍白，胸闷气短，烦躁不安是其早期主要特点。③对术中发生心包填塞只要及时确诊和处理，后果均良好。     

Implications of echocardiographically assisted diagnosis of pericardial tamponade in contemporary medical patients: detection before hemodynamic embarrassment

Identification of suspected pericardial tamponade and the decision to perform invasive drainage of the pericardial space have historically been based on classic bedside findings. Two-dimensional echocardiography has improved detection of pericardial effusion, but it may be excessively sensitive in evaluation of patients for hemodynamic embarrassment. Therefore, 50 consecutive medical patients were examined who were identified by echocardiography to have probable tamponade (defined as the presence of right heart chamber collapse in the presence of a pericardial effusion) and who underwent combined right-sided cardiac catheterization and percutaneous pericardiocentesis. All patients had elevated pericardial pressure. However, many had minimal evidence of hemodynamic compromise (94% had systolic blood pressure greater than or equal to 100 mm Hg and 58% had a cardiac index greater than or equal to 2.3 liters/min per m2). Pericardiocentesis resulted in hemodynamic improvement, but frequently did not alleviate dyspnea or correct tachycardia. Patients with malignancy as the cause of tamponade had a high mortality rate (the cumulative probability of survival in such patients was only 17% at 1 year). Echocardiographically assisted diagnosis of pericardial tamponade in medical patients results in the identification of a substantial subset of patients with only subtle evidence of hemodynamic compromise. This subset of patients differs sharply from medical patients described in previous reports with classic tamponade. Although the patients can be managed by invasive catheter pericardiocentesis with few complications, the natural history and the optimal management strategy for this group are not resolved.     

无对比剂外泄征象患者冠状动脉介入治疗后急性心包填塞的临床特点

目的分析无对比剂外泄征象PCI术后急性心包填塞的临床特点。方法分析12例PCI术后出现急性心包填塞患者的临床表现及处理方法。结果 12例患者中,9例术中支架释放不能充分扩张,使用高压球囊扩张后;2例普通球囊扩张后;1例对吻扩张后,出现剧烈的胸痛,持续时间较长,不能缓解,术中造影未发现对比剂外渗的现象。12例患者术后6～8 h出现血压下降,心率加快,经超声心动图证实为急性心包填塞,行心包穿刺并留置猪尾导管持续引流,并再次行冠状动脉造影仍未发现对比剂外渗现象。1 2例患者经对症治疗痊愈出院。结论造影显示无对比剂外泄并不能完全除外心包填塞的可能。及时心包穿刺引流等对症治疗后,多数患者预后良好。     

Prolonged persistence of a large pericardial effusion and hemodynamic evidence of cardiac tamponade during treatment of myxedema

We describe clinical, echocardiographic, and catheterization findings that were present initially and during therapy in a myxedematous patient with a large pericardial effusion and tamponade. Treatment with thyroxine resulted in a marked improvement of most of the clinical features of hypothyroidism and some improvement in cardiac function. However, the pericardial effusion as well as clinical and laboratory evidence of tamponade persisted for 2 months after full replacement doses of T4 had been achieved. The tamponade was finally relieved by fenestration of the parietal pericardium. These findings are consistent with evidence of an abnormality of pericardial drainage that persists for months after other thyroid hormone dependent functions are normalized by thyroxine replacement. Therefore prompt surgical drainage rather than dependence on medical therapy alone is indicated in myxedematous patients who have cardiac tamponade.     

心律失常射频导管消融术中心包填塞的发生率、原因及处理策略分析

目的:分析心律失常射频导管消融术中心包填塞的发生率、原因及处理转归,探讨更有效的预防及处理措施。方法:回顾分析我院心律失常中心2016年1月至2018年12月实施射频导管消融术患者共2211例,其中15例(0.68%)发生心包填塞。分析心包填塞发生率、原因及处理转归情况。结果:2211例射频导管消融的患者中,934例室上性心动过速患者中无心包填塞;707例房性心律失常患者中有10例(1.41%)发生心包填塞,其中9例是使用非压力导管导致术中出现心包填塞;570例室性心律失常患者中有5例(0.88%)发生心包填塞。根据消融过程及开胸结果,12例可确定心脏穿孔位置,分别在右心室流出道(RVOT)游离壁3例、左心房顶部4例、右心室心尖部2例及其他位置3例。术中及时心包穿刺引流,9例患者顺利拔除心包引流管,6例需要外科开胸手术,所有患者经抢救后均恢复良好,无死亡病例发生。结论:心律失常射频导管消融术中心包填塞发生率较低,其发生率与房性心律失常消融、操作损伤及有无压力监测相关。此外与特定解剖部位(比如RVOT游离壁、左心房前顶部等)局部薄弱或导管难以稳定贴靠导致过度消融相关。心包填塞大多经心包穿刺引流后预后良好。