Published April 29, 1978 | Version v1
Journal article

Diagnosis of pericardial effusion by echocardiography and radionuclide angiography

  • 1. Hopital Cantonal Geneve (Switzerland)

Description

Echocardiography and radionuclide angiography are presently the two first choices non-invasive methods for the diagnosis of pericardial effusion. To evaluate the sensitivity and specificity of these methods, a prospective study of 43 consecutive patients was undertaken. Confirmation by tap or autopsy was obtained in 10 cases; for the remainers, strict clinical signs were requested. The results of both methods were classified in a quantitative manner. The data confirms the greater sensitivity and specificity of echocardiography compared with radionuclide angiocardiography, when small amounts of effusion are present. However, the correlation between the two methods is satisfactory when a greater amount of fluid is present

Abstract (French)

L'echocardiographie et la scintigraphie isotopique constituent aujourd'hui les deux methodes essentielles pour le diagnostic des epanchements pericardiques. Pour comparer la specificite et la sensibilite des deux techniques, on a, dans un travail prospectif, compare chez 43 malades les resultats obtenus par les deux techniques. Ces resultats ont ete classes de maniere quantitative. Le diagnostic d'epanchement a ete confirme par ponction pericardique ou par autopsie dans 10 cas; dans les autres cas, de stricts criteres cliniques etaient requis pour affirmer la presence d'un epanchement pericardique. Cette serie fait apparaitre une sensibilite et une specificite superieures de l'echocardiographie, surtout pour les petits epanchements, alors que la correlation des deux methodes est bonne en cas d'epanchement modere ou important

Additional details

Additional titles

Original title (French)
Diagnostic des epanchements pericardiques par l'echocardiographie et la scintigraphie isotopique

Publishing Information

Journal Title
Nouv. Presse Med.
Journal Volume
7
Journal Issue
17
Series
Nouv. Presse Med.
Journal Page Range
1463-1466