title: Late cardiac tamponade after open-heart surgery.
abstract: Late cardiac tamponade occurred in 74 patients 5-287 (median 16) days after open-heart surgery and was treated with pericardiocentesis or surgery. The overall incidence of late cardiac tamponade was 1.3%. After valve operations it was 2.6% and after isolated coronary surgery 0.7% (53/2,028 vs. 18/2,661, p less than 0.002). The diagnosis was assessed by echocardiography in 93% of cases. Pericardiocentesis, attempted in 65 cases (88%), was curative in 80% but failed in 20%. Eight of the latter 13 underwent emergency surgery and five were medically treated. Failure of pericardiocentesis was associated with posterior location of fluid, clots, echo-free space less than 20 mm or myocardial insufficiency. The subxiphoid part of the wound was surgically re-entered in ten cases and the entire sternotomy in seven. Four patients (5%) died within 30 days of the primary intervention. All hospital survivors were observed for a median of 44 (range 11-115) months. Three (4%) had recurrent pericardial effusion requiring repeat pericardiocentesis, but none had pericardial constriction. The 5-year survival rate was 73%.
authors.affiliation: Thoracic Surgical Clinic, Karolinska Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Sahni
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ivert
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Herzfeld
authors.forename: L A
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Brodin
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D016063:Blood Loss, Surgical; D006348:Cardiac Surgical Procedures / Q000009:adverse effects*; D002305:Cardiac Tamponade / Q000209:etiology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D002648:Child; D001026:Coronary Artery Bypass / Q000009:adverse effects; D005260:Female; D006349:Heart Valve Diseases / Q000601:surgery; D006439:Hemodynamics; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged