Diagnosis and management of pericardial effusion

Figure 1 Grading of severity of hemodynamic compromise caused by pericardial effusion. Most pericardial effusions cause abnormalities in hemodynamic parameters as measured in the Cath lab. Some of these patients have echocardiographic findings of tamponade, while only a relative minority of these patients have overt clinical tamponade. Therefore, clinical tamponade represents the highest degree of severity in the spectrum of hemodynamic compromise caused by pericardial effusion. Echo: Echocardiographic; Hemod: Hemodynamic.