Help - Pericardial Effusion

[Tim26]

Hello

I have just been discharged from hospital having had an aortic valve replaced. On discharge the surgeon told me that the echocardiogram had shown moderate pericardial effusion. He said I should contact him if I get shortness of breath

I am not sure I understand what this means. For example, I am trying to increase the amount of exercise I do daily and this leaves me breathless - how do I tell if this is the shortness of breath he referred to, or just a natural consequence of trying to build your strength back up? I am worried about the potential complications, and that far from dispersing, the fluid could suddenly build up very quickly.

Can anyone shed any light on this condition and what symptoms I should be looking out for?

 

[LUVMyBirman]

Hi Tim,


Welcome. You need to keep a close eye on how you do feel.
If it is severe, you will be well aware.

Can you sleep lying down without any trouble? Can you walk across a room without assistance?

Unfortunately, I am not the poster child for effusions. Mine was serious and required a second surgery. Would insist on another chest xray and echo.

Above all....please keep an eye on your INR. Feel it was an out of control INR that added fuel to the fire for myself.
Take care.

 

[Ross]

If your effusion gets critically bad, you won't even be able to attempt exercise and you will have chest pain. It may go away on it's own, but be careful. Should you experience shortness of breath badly while just resting, it's a pretty good indicator that the fluid is building rather then depleting. If it should get that bad, get yourself into the ER asap. They'll have to draw the fluid off of your heart so that it can resume pumping efficiently.

 

[MelissaM]

Hi Tim,

Pericardial effusion is pretty common after heart surgery. Typically, the effusions go down in size post-surgery as your overall condition improves. It depends on what is causing the fluid. If it is just fluid left over from the surgery, it could be reabsorbed into the body. If there is a slow leak from a vessel that got nicked during surgery the fluid could continue accumulate (sometimes at a slow pace, sometimes quickly) or the vessel could either clot up on its own.

The surgeon is telling you to look out signs that the effusion is getting bigger - one of which is shortness of breath, (especially shortness of breath w/out exertion). Hopefully, you have a follow-up appointment with your cardiologist scheduled. Let him/her know about your effusion and ask if s/he wants to do a follow up echo at the same time. Go to the ER if you feel a sudden shortness of breath or extreme change. You could be going into cardiac temponade - what happens when the fluid around the heart wins the pressure battle with the pressure within the heart, and starts pushing too much on the walls of the heart.

My doctor recommended keeping my fluid levels very high to make sure I had enough internal pressure/adequate blood volume to combat any increased pressure surrounding the heart.

Welcome to the forums!

Melissa

 

[Tim26]

Thanks for these replies - I feel a bit more reassured now that I'm not about to pop my clogs!