Comparative Evaluation of Thoracoscopic Pericardial Drainage and Subxiphoid Tube Insertion in Patients with Prior Cardiac Surgery

Abstract

Objective: Clinically symptomatic pericardial effusion (PE) develops in 0.8-5% of patients after open-heart surgery, and delayed effusion is related to morbidity. Comparative evaluation of the outcomes of thoracoscopic pericardial drainage and subxiphoid tube pericardiostomy, which is the standard surgical procedure, has been scantily reported.Methods: We conducted a longitudinal observation of delayed PEs treated with thoracoscopic pericardial drainage (TPD group; 48 patients) and subxiphoid pericardiostomy (SX group; 91 patients) between May 2012 and June 2017. Changes in the hemodynam-ic parameters, functional status of patients, and procedure outcomes were compared between the two procedures.Results: The TPD group had a significantly greater size of effusion (3.9±0.6 cm vs. 3.1±0.5 cm; p