CARDIAC-TAMPONADE AFTER PERCUTANEOUS TRAN SLUMINAL CORONARY ANGIOPLASTY (PTCA) - A RARE LIFE-THREATENING COMPLICATION

Cardiac tamponade following coronary perforation is a rare complicatio n in conventional balloon angioplasty. In a series of 8000 dilatations we observed this complication after PTCA in 2 female patients (0.25 p art per thousand). In both cases cardiac tamponade occurred 2 h after PTCA of small, in 1 case calcified, coronary arteries during monitorin g on the coronary care unit. By immediate percutaneous pericardiocente sis and subsequent drainage by a pigtail catheter we could manage the complication. One patient suffered an acute myocardial infarction 3 da ys after PTCA because of a subacute occlusion of the perforated vessel .