Pericardial effusion among children: Retrospective analysis of the etiology and short‐term outcome in a referral center in the south of Iran

Abstract

Background and Aims: We reinvestigated the causes, symptoms, and management of childhood pericardial effusion (PE) and its gradual changes during recent years in a referral pediatric cardiology center in the south of Iran. Methods:We retrospectively analyzed the profile of PE patients who were under 18 years old from 2015 to 2020. The patient's demographic, clinical, and paraclinical information was extracted and analyzed using SPSS software.Result: In general, 150 out of 63,736 admitted patients (0.23% of the total pediatric admissions) were diagnosed with PE (male/female 1:1.17). The median age was 3.25 years (range:\ 2 days to 18 years; interquartile range: 9.5), and 50% of them were under 3 years of age. 32.6% had moderate to severe PE. Most patients presented with acute symptoms (68%) and respiratory problems, as the most common symptoms (30.6%). Tamponade signs were presented in 2% (n = 3) of the patients, and 80.7% (n = 121) were in a stable hemodynamic condition. In total, renal failure (22%) and parapneumonic effusion were the leading etiologies. Viral (7%) and bacterial (5%) pericarditis were the seventh and eighth causes; however, in severe cases, renal failure (22%) and bacterial pericarditis (14%) were dominant. In total, 14.1% (n = 21) of the patients needed pericardiocentesis that increased to 78.3% (n = 18) in severe cases. Only 6% had persistent PE for more than 3 months. Conclusion:Childhood PE is mostly a result of renal failure and noninfectious causes.True pericarditis cases are not common, except in severe cases. It is more common in less than 3-year-old patients, and chronicity is rare. Severe cases had a high chance of pericardiocentesis, but other cases were mainly managed by treatment of the underlying causes.

Pericardial effusion in children at tertiary national referral hospital, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia: a 7-year institution based review

“…PE or pericardial tamponade contributed to less than 1% of pediatric emergency admissions in our study. This is in agreement with reports from other countries [ 10 , 20 ]. This underscores the rarity of PE or pericardial tamponade in children.…”

“…In this study, cough or shortness of breath was the most common PE presentation followed by fever or fast breathing. This is in line with other studies [ 4 , 8 , 15 , 20 – 22 ]. The median duration of illness of PE subjects was about two weeks in this study.…”

Frequency and etiology of pericardial effusion among patients with dyspnea presenting at emergency department

“…Regarding the etiology of pericardial effusion we observed that the most common etiological factor was para-pneumonic effusion which was found in 6 patients out of 18 (33.3%), while renal failure was found in 5 patients out of 18 (27.7%), malignancy was found in 4 patients (22.2%) while other factors were found only in 3 patients (16.6%), a study reported that renal failure was the leading cause of pericardial effusion while para-pneumonic effusion was second leading cause in their study. 20…”

Infeksi Multipel Organ Tuberkulosis Ekstrapulmonal pada Anak yang disertai Malnutrisi Tipe Marasmus

“…Kondisi yang dialami pasien mungkin dapat menunjukkan keterkaitan antara satu dengan yang lain sesuai dengan patofisiologi dari penyakit. Efusi perikard merupakan suatu kondisi adanya akumulasi cairan antara 2 lapisan perikard (Mehdizadegan et al, 2022). Akumulasi cairan ini pada anak-anak memiliki etiologi yang bervariasi, bahkan pada studi Moreno, et al 2020 menyebutkan adanya perbedaan etiologi efusi perikard pada negara maju dan berkembang.…”