Widespread intracardiac surgery of rheumatic heart disease has brought to medical attention a puzzling postoperative complication, usually designated the "posteommissurotomy syndrome" and often considered to represent reactivation of rheumatic fever. Herein are reported instances of an identical complication following intrapericardial surgery of congenital heart disease. It is suggested that th...

Postpericardiotomy syndrome (PPS) is a major cause of morbidity after cardiac surgery and may cause bypass graft closure and fatal cardiac tamponade. Treatment modalities include nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs, corticosteroids, diuresis, drainage, and pericardiectomy in severe cases. Usually the syndrome lasts weeks only, and persistence beyond six months is exceptional. We describe a 64-y...

23. Cleary MP, Klein BE, Brasel JA, Greenwood MRC: Thymidine kinase and DNA polymerase activity during postnatal growth of the epididymal fat pad. J Nutr 109: 48, 1979 24. Hager A, Sjostrom L, Arvidsson B, Bjorntorp P, Smith U: Body fat and adipose tissue cellularity in infants: a longitudinal study. Metabolism 26: 607, 1977 25. Brook CGD: Evidence for a sensitive period in adipose cell replica...

SUMMARY Cardiac tamponade that occurs late after cardiac surgery (7 days) is relatively uncommon but potentially fatal. We analyzed its incidence, clinical course and relationship to the postpericardiotomy syndrome in 1290 consecutive adult patients who survived surgery. Criteria for diagnosis of cardiac tamponade were (1) elevated jugular venous pressure, (2) hypotension or decreased cardiac i...