A pericardiocentesis electrode needle.

Pericardiocentesis and pancreatic aspiration needle biopsy in coagulopathic and thrombocytopenic cirrhotic patient.

We report on the case of a 40-year-old patient with coagulopathic alcoholic cirrhosis who underwent ultrasound-directed pericardiocentesis and fine-needle aspiration biopsy of the pancreas after receiving recombinant human factor VIIa (rhFVIIa). The infusion of rhFVIIa rapidly corrected her coagulopathy and made it possible to perform both procedures. The marked changes produced in the prothrom...

Pericardiocentesis under echocardiographic guidance.

We thank Drs Tsang and Seward for their interesting comments. The Mayo Clinic’s important experience in echoguided pericardiocentesis was cited in our paper. However, the approach we described is technically different. In Europe, the Marfan’s approach, or subxiphoid puncture proposed by Marfan, is routinely used in cardiac tamponade, in which a swinging heart is frequently present. The most com...

Construction of a simplified pericardiocentesis electrode.

Real-time cardiovascular magnetic resonance subxiphoid pericardial access and pericardiocentesis using off-the-shelf devices in swine

BACKGROUND Needle access or drainage of pericardial effusion, especially when small, entails risk of bystander tissue injury or operator uncertainty about proposed trajectories. Cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) might allow enhanced imaging guidance. METHODS AND RESULTS We used real-time CMR to guide subxiphoid pericardial access in naïve swine using commercial 18G titanium puncture nee...

The right place in the right space? Awareness of site for needle thoracocentesis.

BACKGROUND Invasive practical procedures require identification of surface anatomical landmarks to reduce risk of damage to other structures. Needle thoracocentesis has specific complications, which have been previously documented. An observational study was performed among emergency physicians to name the landmark for needle thoracocentesis and identify this point on a human volunteer as per A...