title: [Surgical treatment of chronic pericardial effusions. Personal experience].
abstract: The authors report their experience about 15 patients surgically treated for chronic large pericardial effusion; in 12 cases the etiology was malignant neoplasm, while in the other 3 cases was inflammatory disease. In 4 patients a simple subxiphoid pericardial drainage was carried out, while in the other cases a pericardial window was performed. These cases were managed using an anterior left thoracotomy in 8 patients and a videothoracoscopy in 3. The authors conclude that pericardial window with videothoracoscopic approach is the preferable procedure, but it cannot be used in every case because a lot of patients have seriously compromised conditions and the use of this technique can be hazardous.
authors.affiliation: I Divisione Chirurgia Generale, Ospedale S. Maria delle Croci-Ravenna.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Solaini
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Bagioni
authors.forename: U
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Grandi
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Angelini
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Amigoni
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D004322:Drainage; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010490:Pericardial Effusion / Q000209:etiology / Q000601:surgery*; D013906:Thoracoscopy; D014741:Video Recording
vernacular_title: Il trattamento chirurgico dei versamenti cronici del pericardio. Esperienza personale.