Therapeutic Pneumopericardium in Pericarditis With Effusion

The institution of therapeutic artificial pneumopericardium in the treatment of pericarditis with effusion has received scant attention. Emile-Weil and Loiseleur,¹in 1916, reported a case of tuberculous pericarditis with effusion which they treated by aspiration of the fluid and the injection of air. In all, six aspirations were made, the last five of which were followed by air injections. They noted a marked strengthening of the general condition of the patient—a child of 14— and what they thought were improvements in the pericardial condition; namely, a reduction in the amount and rapidity of exudate formation and a change in its character from a serosanguineous liquid to one of clear straw colored appearance. They were able, also, by the use of air injections, together with the fluoroscope, to find pocketed or encysted fluid within the pericardial sac which had not emptied on aspiration, and to drain these. In 1917, Meyer