Echocardiography is highly sensitive for detecting pericardial effusion and directing pericardiocentesis to increase fluid yield and decrease complications.
Does echocardiography improve the detection of pericardial effusion and the safety of pericardiocentesis?
Echocardiography is the standard of care for diagnosing pericardial effusions and safely guiding pericardiocentesis.
Pericardial DiseaseEchocardiography is the procedure of choice for the diagnosis of pericardial effusion. The method is extremely sensitive in the detection of even small effusions, and the amount of fluid can be estimated by considering the size of the heart and the distance between the epicardium and the parietal pericardium.71 Categories of less than 100 ml, 100 to 500 ml, and larger than 500 ml may be used with reasonable accuracy. The use of echocardiography to direct pericardiocentesis has been shown to increase the number of cases in which fluid can be obtained and to decrease the complication rate . . .
Richard L. Popp (1990) conducted a review in Pericardial effusion. Echocardiography was evaluated. Echocardiography is highly sensitive for detecting pericardial effusion and directing pericardiocentesis to increase fluid yield and decrease complications.