Two patients who had a huge pericardial effusion of at least 9 and 14 years' duration caused by cardiac toxoplasmosis are reported. Toxoplasma gondii were seen in the pericardial fluid, and serologic evidence also demonstrated the activity of the infection. These cases illustrate both the need to exclude toxoplasmosis in chronic pericardial effusion of unknown cause and the possibility of seein...

Surgical creation of a pericardial window has been a standard procedure for relieving symptoms of patients presenting with recurrent pericardial effusion. In this report we describe the application of Multitrack balloon catheter for creating a pericardial window in a patient who had recurrent pericardial effusion with tamponade as a result of advance malignant disease of breast.

A 57-year-old woman was diagnosed in January 1982 with SLE based on ANA 1:640, positive LE cell preparation, proteinuria (3+), and pericarditis. In 1984, 1994, and 1997, the pericardial effusion was noted to have increased without signs of disease exacerbation or cardiac tamponade, and pericardial drainage was repeated to control the effusion. A massive pericardial effusion developed in August ...

PERICARDIAL effusion can be a striking physical and radiologic finding, but its occurrence as a manifestation of disseminated lupus erythematosus has not been emphasized. During the last 2 years 4 patients with systemic lupus erythematosus who had an associated pericardial effusion were seen at this hospital. Two of this group were misdiagnosed and treated incorreetly, partly because of failure...

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic systemic inflammatory condition of unknown etiology that affects the joints and the visceral serosa of heart, lungs and peritoneum. Pericarditis and pericardial effusion are the most common presentations of cardiac involvement. Pericardial tamponade is extremely rare affecting <1% of these patients. We report an interesting case of a young female with poor...

We report the case of a 55-year-old woman with mixed connective tissue disease (MCTD), who developed perimyocarditis associated with massive pericardial effusion. The diagnosis of MCTD was based on clinical and serological findings. We confirmed myocarditis by right ventricular endomyocardial biopsy. The pericardial effusion gradually disappeared after the administration of prednisolone. Althou...

Malignant pericardial disease represents a common cause of morbidity and mortality in patients with cancer. Malignant tumours of the pericardium may occur as primary or secondary tumours. Primary tumours of the pericardium occur rarely, and secondary involvement of the pericardium constitutes the majority of the cases of malignant disease of the pericardium. In necropsy series, the pericardium ...

A 73-year-old man was transferred to our emergency room with a sudden onset of severe back pain, being under mechanical ventilation because of an intractable pain. His heart rate was regular and blood pressure was 166/96mmHg. A chest computed tomographic scan revealed a massive pericardial effusion associated with type B aortic dissection. His family told us that he had a history of hypothyroid...

Echocardiography has greatly increased the accurate recognition of pericardial effusion. Echocardiograms were performed prospectively on the total group of 35 stable asymptomatic patients on chronic haemodialysis to determine the incidence of pericardial effusion. Effusions were shown in 11 per cent (4/35); only 6 per cent (2/35) were estimated as greater than 100 ml. For comparison, records we...

Objectives: To determine the prevalence and time course of pericardial effusion after open heart surgery for congenital heart diseases and to identify predisposing risk factors. Design and patients: Prospective assessment of development of pericardial effusion in 336 patients (163 males) undergoing open heart surgery for congenital heart disease by serial echocardiography on days 5, 7, 14, 21, ...