Echocardiographically guided pericardiocentesis - the gold standard for the management of pericardial effusion and cardiac tamponade.

Abstract

Echocardiographically guided pericardiocentesis is safe and effective, and is the method of choice for therapeutic and diagnostic drainage of pericardial effusions. While echocardiographically guided pericardiocentesis was described originally at centres with large volumes of patients with clinically significant pericardial effusions and with extensive experience in using this technique, similar high success and low complication rates were attained at an institution with relatively low numbers of patients requiring pericardial drainage.