Subxiphoid pericardial windows--helpful in selected cases

There is a small group of patients who sustain multiple penetrating injuries who present with haemodynamic changes, making it difficult to clinically exclude or prove the presence of penetrating cardiac injury. It is in this select group of patients that we found subxiphoid pericardial windows to be extremely useful to prove or disprove the existence of a cardiac injury and thereby prevent a delay in diagnosing these injuries.