BACKGROUND The clinical significance of pericardial biopsy is controversial. The aim of this study was to assess the feasibility and diagnostic value of 3 approaches to pericardial biopsy: fluoroscopic control and standard sampling, pericardioscopy guidance with standard sampling, and pericardioscopy guidance with extensive sampling. METHODS AND RESULTS Forty-nine subsequent patients with a l...

We report the case of a 26-year-old male patient with 2-week history of Brucella aortic valve endocarditis that was referred from general hospital to our hospital emergency room with pallor of the skin and mucous membranes accompanied by systemic hypotension and chest pain. Trans esophageal echocardiography (TEE) revealed a 30-mm ascending aorta at the pulmonary trunk with no evidence of the fa...

The pericardium surrounds the heart and consists of a visceral layer, which is contiguous with the epicardium of the heart, and a parietal layer, which forms a sac around the heart (Wann & Passen, 2008). Located between the parietal and visceral layers is a potential space called the pericardial cavity. The pericardial cavity normally contains as much as 50 mL of an ultrafiltrate of plasma. Ana...

Chylopericardium is a rare clinical entity in which chylous fluid accumulates in the pericardial cavity. We report a case of recurrent massive idiopathic chylopericardium with tamponade in a 3-year-old infant with no history of trauma, thoracic surgery, malignancy, infection or tuberculosis. Echocardiography showed a large amount of pericardial effusions with evidence of tamponade. And 450 mL o...

Pericardial effusion can cause cardiac tamponade physiology with resultant cardiogenic shock and death. Myelofibrosis, the replacement of marrow cavity by fibrous connective tissue, is a secondary complication of a group of disorders known as myeloproliferative neoplasms, which are clonal processes characterized by abnormal proliferative growth of one or more hematopoietic lineages. One consequ...

CONGENITAL pericardial defect is a rare anomaly, which was first described by M. Columbus in 1559.1 2 Four hundred years later the first clinical diagnosis was reported by Ellis et al.2 In 1961, 108 cases were compiled from the literature and since then we have located reports of five more.3-6 Chang and Leigh' reported that 67 per cent of t-he defects were left sided, and in three instances bil...

A 78-year-old woman experienced cardiac tamponade (Figure 1). At first, a drainage tube was inserted into the pericardial cavity through the fifth intercostal space guided by transthoracic echocardiography; however, the aspirate was bloody. We suspected that the tip of the drainage tube had been inserted into the intracardiac space. The microcavitation contrast was generated immediately by agit...

OBJECTIVE Body mass index (BMI) may not accurately or adequately reflect body composition or its role in the development of cardiovascular disease (CVD). Ectopic adipose depots may provide a more refined representation of the role of adiposity in CVD. Thus, the association of pericardial and intra-thoracic fat with coronary artery calcium (CAC) was examined. DESIGN AND METHODS Nearly 600 whit...