[Echocardiography in pericardial effusion and tamponade (author's transl)]

The role of echocardiography in the diagnosis and quantitative assessment of pericardial effusion was demonstrated in 57 cases, 10 of which were confirmed by surgery. With this highly sensitive method all effusions equal or superior to 50 ml could be detected and their volume measured with accuracy. There were no false positive results. Two specific signs of tamponade came out very clearly: a decrease in EF slope, which was less than 50 mm/sec, and a notch in the anterior wall of the right ventricle which occurred 0.04 +/- 0.01 sec after QRS.