Purulent pericarditis: a continuing surgical challenge

This report presents a prospective series of 12 patients with a diagnosis of purulent pericarditis who were treated between April 1978 and September 1979 by the cardiothoracic surgical unit at the University College Hospital, Ibadan, Nigeria. These patients were studied to determine the adequacy of a therapeutic protocol consisting of systemic antibiotics and pericardiostomy tube drainage. All patients were in the pediatric age group with an average age of 6¾ years. Bronchopneumonia was the antecedent focus of sepsis in eight patients, with pyomyositis in four (33 percent). Two patients expired prior to surgery.No mortality or significant morbidity occurred in the ten patients who underwent pericardiostomy.The results of this series combined with the initial experience reported in 1978 by the same authors confirm the described protocol as the treatment of choice in their environment.