This Article  • Full text PDF  • Send to a friend  • Save in My Folder  • Save to citation manager  • Permissions  Citing Articles  • Contact me when this article is cited  Related Content  • Similar articles in JAMA  Social Bookmarking   What's this?

Robert H. Breyer, MD; Stephen A. Mills, MD; Allen S. Hudspeth, MD
Bowman Gray School of Medicine of Wake Forest University Winston-Salem, NC

JAMA. 1982;248(8):923.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text PDF and any section headings.

To the Editor.—

Alcan et al describe the use of subxiphoid pericardiotomy for the treatment of pericardial effusion (1982;247:1143) and conclude that subxiphoid pericardiotomy is the procedure of choice for acute cardiac tamponade. Our own experience in 12 cases of acute cardiac tamponade strongly supports those conclusions.

We have performed subxiphoid pericardiotomy (using only local anesthesia) in 12 patients during the past 18 months. The amount of fluid drained ranged from 50 to 2,000 mL (average, 650 mL). The drainage tube was removed after two to seven days (average, 4.3 days). No drugs were instilled through the tube.

The cause of the pericardial effusion was obvious in ten patients: seven had carcinoma metastatic to the pericardium; three had uremic pericarditis. Pericardial biopsy supported the diagnosis of nonspecific pericarditis in one of the other two patients; in the 12th patient, who had known breast cancer and bony metastases, metastatic pericarditis was . . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]

CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter     What's this?