Loculated Pericardial Effusion

High-pressure loculated pericardial effusion in postpericardiotomy syndrome.

An 81-year-old man presented with a 10-day history of progressively worsening dyspnea on exertion and decreased exercise tolerance 2 months after coronary artery bypass surgery for triple-vessel coronary artery disease; his pericardium was not closed at that time. Physical examination revealed blood pressure of 112/64 mm Hg, heart rate of 102 bpm, distant heart sounds, bilaterally decreased bre...

Two-dimensional echocardiography and B-mode ultrasonography for the diagnosis of loculated pericardial effusion.

Two cases of loculated pericardial effusion resulting in cardiac tamponade are presented. The loculated nature and extent of the effusion was best defined by two-dimensional echocardiography or B- mode ultrasonography. Cross-sectional images should probably be obtained in all cases of suspected loculated pericardial effusion and in patients in whom the interpretation of the M-mode echocardiogra...

Letter by Kern regarding article, "High-pressure loculated pericardial effusion in postpericardiotomy syndrome".

Letter by Kern Regarding Article, “High-Pressure Loculated Pericardial Effusion in Postpericardiotomy Syndrome” To the Editor: Drs Syros and Maysky1 present a remarkable case of pericardial effusion due to post pericardiotomy syndrome in an 81-year-old man. I am confused about the hemodynamics displayed in Figure 2, which shows a pericardial pressure that appears to be exactly like that of a ri...

Use of a flexible choledochoscope for pericardioscopy and drainage of a loculated pericardial effusion.

In recurrent or persistent pericardial effusion a subxiphoid pericardial window may be used to drain fluid from the pericardial cavity.' 3 A more permanent form of drainage may be achieved if a combined peritoneal pericardial window is used.4 We describe a case in which we could not initially reach the pericardial effusion through a pericardial window because it was loculated posteriorly. Subse...

Pericardial effusion.