Pericardial disease and pericardial tamponade

The pericardium serves many important functions, but it is not essential for life. Pericardial heart disease comprises only pericarditis and its complications, tamponade and constriction, and congenital lesions. However, the pericardium is affected by virtually every category of disease. The critical care physician is thus likely to encounter the patient with pericardial disease in a variety of settings, either as an isolated phenomenon or as a complication of a variety of systemic disorders, trauma, or certain drugs. Echocardiography is the primary tool for diagnosing and quantifying pericardial effusions, and in the context of the clinical presentation, a thorough understanding of M-mode, two-dimensional, and Doppler findings can help not only to identify patients with impending tamponade, but also to suggest a diagnosis of constrictive pericarditis. This article reviews the pathogenesis and diagnosis of pericardial heart disease, focusing on the diagnostic utility of echocardiography, with an emphasis on those areas of greatest interest to the intensivist.