TREATMENT OF MALIGNANT PERICARDIAL-EFFUSION

Objective.-To discuss the diagnosis and treatment of malignant pericardial effusion and focus on quantitating the success and complication rates of the many treatment modalities and updating recent advances in the field. Data Sources.-English-language publications were identified by a computerized search (MEDLINE) of these key words: cancer, tumor, malignancy, pericardium, and pericardial effusion. This computerized search was supplemented by a manual search of the bibliographies of original research articles and textbooks. Study Selection.-Studies were included if the outcome of patients undergoing treatment for malignant pericardial effusion was reported separately from the outcome of patients with other causes of pericardial effusions. Studies that only reported the combined results of patients with malignant and nonmalignant effusions were excluded.