Inoue Balloon Pericardiotomy for Patients with Recurrent Pericardial Effusion

Abstract

The results and follow-up data for 11 patients with recurrent pericardial effusion due to various etiologies who underwent balloon pericardiotomy with the Inoue balloon catheter between May 1992 and July 1994 are described. Inoue balloon pericardiotomy was successful in 10 patients (91%), who remained free of pericardial effusion at a mean follow-up duration of 4.2 months. All patients tolerated the procedure well with minimal discomfort and with no complications. Despite good symptomatic relief, 9 patients (82%) eventually succumbed to disease dissemination, with a mean survival time of 1.4 months. It is concluded that Inoue balloon pericardiotomy is a safe and useful alternative to surgical pericardial windowing for the symptomatic treatment of recurrent pericardial effusion.

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Hankins JR , Satterfield JR , Aisner J. , et al: Pericardial window for malignant pericardial effusion. Ann Thorac Surg 30:465-469, 1980.

Chow WH , Chow TC , Cheung KL : Nonsurgical creation of a pericardial window using the Inoue balloon catheter . Am Heart J 124:1100-1102, 1992 .

Palacious IF , Tuzcu M. , Ziskind AA , et al: Percutaneous balloon pericardial window for patients with malignant pericardial effusion and tamponade. Cathet Cardiovasc Diagn 22:244-249, 1991.

Ziskind AA , Pearce AC , Lemmon CC , et al: Percutaneous balloon pericardiotomy for the treatment of cardiac tamponade and large pericardial effusions: Description of technique and report of the first 50 cases. J Am Coll Cardiol 21:1-5, 1993.

Chow Ltc , Chow WH : Mechanism of pericardial window creation by balloon pericardiotomy . Am J Cardiol 72:1321-1322, 1993 .

Inoue K. , Owaki T. , Nakamura T. , et al: Clinical application of transvenous mitral commissurotomy by a new balloon catheter. J Thorac Cardiovasc Surg 87:394-402, 1984.