This is the first report demonstrating that a large pericardial effusion and cardiac tamponade due to postpericardiotomy syndrome can occur in a cardiac transplant recipient despite intensive immunosuppression.
Corticosteroids may resolve postpericardiotomy syndrome with tamponade in transplant recipients; hypothesis-generating from single-case evidence.
A 15-year-old man with end-stage heart failure due to dilated cardiomyopathy, underwent heart transplantation. In the second postoperative week, while being treated with monoclonal antibodies (OKT3), cyclosporine and azathioprine, he developed a postpericardiotomy syndrome and cardiac tamponade, which necessitated emergency pericardiocentesis. Corticosteroids, administered according to the immunosuppression protocol, resulted in the prompt subsidence of the syndrome. This is the first report of a large pericardial effusion and cardiac tamponade due to a postpericardiotomy syndrome in an adult cardiac recipient.
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Charitos et al. (2000) studied this question.
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