In patients with large symptomatic pericardial effusion requiring pericardiocentesis, underlying malignancy is the most common cause and is associated with a markedly poorer prognosis compared to nonmalignant etiologies.
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Warrants guarded prognosis counseling in malignant effusion; observational data leaves open whether etiology-specific strategies improve survival.
Kil et al. (2008) studied this question.
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