title: Diagnosis and management of neoplastic pericardial effusion with cardiac tamponade; review of two case studies at the San Juan Veteran Administration Medical Center.
abstract: Two case reports of patients with known non-small cell lung cancer that developed cardiac tamponade related to metastatic pericardial disease are described. Both of these patients underwent urgent subxiphoid echocardiographic guided pericardiocentesis. They both were treated with sclerotherapy using intrapericardial bleomycin. There were no complications from these procedures and no recurrence of cardiac tamponade. They both lived more than 6 months after this intervention. This article reviews the pathogenesis, clinical presentation, diagnosis, and current therapeutic interventions of patients with neoplastic pericardial effusion and cardiac tamponade.
authors.affiliation: The Cardiology Section, Department of Medicine, Veterans Administration Medical Center of San Juan, Puerto Rico. Jose.Escabi@med.va.gov
authors.forename: Jose
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Escabí-Mendoza
authors.forename: Rafael
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Berio
mesh_terms: D000230:Adenocarcinoma / Q000150:complications* / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000401:mortality; D000368:Aged; D000971:Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols / Q000627:therapeutic use; D001999:Bronchoscopy; D002289:Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung / Q000150:complications* / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000473:pathology; D002305:Cardiac Tamponade / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology*; D018450:Disease Progression; D004322:Drainage; D004452:Echocardiography; D004562:Electrocardiography; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008168:Lung / Q000473:pathology; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000150:complications* / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D010490:Pericardial Effusion / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000209:etiology* / Q000601:surgery / Q000628:therapy*; D010492:Pericardiectomy; D020519:Pericardiocentesis; D013902:Radiography, Thoracic; D015911:Sclerotherapy; D013997:Time Factors; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed; D016896:Treatment Outcome