title: Primary percutaneous balloon pericardiotomy.
abstract: Percutaneous balloon pericardiotomy was reported by Palacious et al in 1991. From 1996-2000, we utilized this procedure as the initial treatment for 17 patients at West Virginia University Hospital in Morgantown with cardiac tamponade who had a high likelihood of recurrence of pericardial effusion. Primary pericardiotomy was successful after the initial procedure in 82% (n = 14) of these patients, so it appears to be an effective non-surgical procedure for patients at high risk for re-accumulation of pericardial effusions. In addition, our comparison at this institution revealed that primary percutaneous pericardial window creation is significantly less costly than pericardiocentesis followed by surgical pericardial window creation.
authors.affiliation: Section of Cardiology, Dept. of Medicine, West Virginia University School of Medicine, Morgantown, USA.
authors.forename: Farrukh M
authors.initials: FM
authors.lastname: Jalisi
authors.forename: Anthony P
authors.initials: AP
authors.lastname: Morise
authors.forename: Reyaz
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Haque
authors.forename: Abnash C
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Jain
mesh_terms: D021721:Balloon Occlusion; D002305:Cardiac Tamponade / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000628:therapy*; D002404:Catheterization / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D014463:Ultrasonography