Steroid Responsive Pericardial Effusion after Percutaneous Epicardial Closure of the Left Atrial Appendage

Article Information

Article Type: Research Article

Citation: Shah RR, Maddox W (2015) Steroid Responsive Pericardial Effusion after Percutaneous Epicardial Closure of the Left Atrial Appendage. J Hear Health 1 (2): doi http://dx.doi.org/10.16966/2379-769X.106

Copyright:© 2015 Shah RR. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Publication history: 

 Received date: 09 June, 2015

 Accepted date: 19 June, 2015

 Published date: 22 June, 2015

Author Details :
Ruchit R Shah^*
Division of Cardiology, Department of Internal Medicine, Georgia Regents University, Augusta, Georgia, USA.

William Maddox
Division of Cardiology, Department of Internal Medicine, Georgia Regents University, Augusta, Georgia, USA.

*Corresponding author: Ruchit R Shah, Division of Cardiology, Georgia Regents University,1120 15th Street, BBR 6518Augusta, GA 30912, USA, Tel: (706)721-2736; Fax: (706)721-5150; E-mail: rushah@gru.edu.

Abstract

Atrial Fibrillation (AF) increases the risk of embolic Cerebrovascular Accidents (CVA) with the thrombus predominately originating in the Left Atrial Appendage (LAA). In patients unable to take oral anticoagulation, closure or exclusion of the LAA can be performed to mitigate the risk of stroke. We present a case of a patient who underwent LAA closure with an epicardial suture delivery device, and developed a late post procedure pericardial effusion despite perioperative anti-inflammatory therapy. This was successfully treated conservatively with oral steroids, negating the need for further invasive therapy with pericardiocentesis.

Keywords

Atrial fibrillation; Anticoagulation; Left atrial appendage Closure; Pericardial effusion

Figure 1:Transthoracic Echocardiogram (TTE). Parasternal Long axis view.

(A): Post-procedure Day 1 TTE.
(B): 3 weeks Post-Procedure TTE showing moderate pericardial effusion (effusion shown with asterisks).
(C): TTE after 1 week of steroid initiation showing resolution of pericardial effusion.

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