Any doctors out there? I was just diagnosed with pericardium fluid around my heart, can you tell me what this,

Question

means? Is this common? Is it easily treatable?

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Answer 1

I'm not a doctor-just a nurse. What you describe is called cardiac tamponade, and it is usually considered a life threatening condition. The pericardium, the sac which surrounds the heart, normally contains a small amount of fluid which keeps the heart moist and cuts down on friction produced as the heart beats. Fluid accumulates in the sac due to either trauma or decreased kidney function. It causes pressure around the heart to build up, preventing the ventricles from emptying properly, and blood builds up leading into the atriums which also don't empty into the ventricles properly. It is treated with medications to reduce the level of fluid in the body and obviously the underlying kidney condition has to be treated. In worst case scenarios, a needle is inserted into the sac to drain off the fluid. In the case of an injury, where the fluid involved is blood from an injured heart, you have open heart surgery to repair the injury and drain the sac. Untreated, cardiac tamponade stops the heart from beating at all and death occurs. It is considered a very serious, life threatening situation- so I am surprised you are here typing. I assume your case is mild, although you should still be in a hospital and on bedrest to reduce stress on your heart. The cardiologist should be explaining all this to you, and you should be discussing your treatment options with him/her. Cardiac tamponade is a symptom of a much more serious problem, not really a disease of itself. You will need to address the cause of your kidney problems and solve those, or this will continue to be a problem. How treatable it is depends on what the cause is, and how easy it is to correct or treat that. You need to ask your doctor to speak very plainly and bluntly on this matter, and make sure you understand his explainations. This problem is too serious for debate on Yahoo Answers.

Answer 2

I would like to gently disagree with the person who said this is cardiac tamponade. It could also be pericarditis, which is a collection of fluid in between your heart and the sac that surrounds it. Pericardidits can be caused by lots of things, but not always fatal. Sometimes a person will need to have surgery to open the sac, so the fluid can drain, this is called "pericardial window". SOmetimes it can be treated with diuretics and antibiotis. Either way, you should have a cardiologist taking care of this, and answering your questions, as it can be caused by several things, and treated several ways. Good luck to you.