THE INCIDENCE OF SIGNIFICANT PERICARDIAL-EFFUSION AND TAMPONADE FOLLOWING MAJOR AORTIC ROOT SURGERY

Objective. To examine the hypothesis that the incidence of significant pericardial effusion following aortic root surgery is higher than ant icipated after cardiac surgery. Design. A retrospective data analysis. Setting. A tertiary referral centre for cardiothoracic surgery. Subje cts. All patients undergoing aortic root surgery either with or withou t aortic valve replacement between January 1991 and July 1993. Results . Three patients developed late cardiac tamponade (7-10 days post-oper atively) and a further three developed clinically significant pericard ial effusions as a result of post-pericardiotomy syndrome. The 31.6% ( 95% confidence limit: 12.5-56%) incidence of significant pericardial e ffusions following aortic root surgery is therefore significantly high er than anticipated after cardiac surgery (0.8-6). Conclusion. These d ata support the hypothesis that the incidence of significant pericardi al effusion following aortic root surgery is higher than anticipated a fter cardiac surgery. We recommend that echocardiography is routinely performed during the post-operative period in these patients to exclud e significant pericardial effusions.