Abstract 19119: National Trends and Acute In-Hospital Outcomes for Pericardiocentesis and Pericardiotomy in the United States

Abstract

Background: The national utilization rates and trends of pericardiocentesis and pericardiotomy are unknown. The objective of this observational study was to characterize the trends and in-hospital mortality of pericardiocentesis and pericardiotomy in the United States.

Methods: The Nationwide Inpatient Sample (NIS) database was used to identify patients who underwent pericardiocentesis or pericardiotomy from 2005 to 2009. We evaluated their in-hospital mortality and used risk adjusted logistic regression to analyze the predictors of adverse outcomes including death.

Results: A total of 131,945 patients underwent either pericardiocentesis or pericardiotomy during these five years. Pericardiocentesis was done in 49,854(37.8%) and pericardiotomy was done in 82,090 (62.2%). The per annum pericardiocentesis rate increased from 9,171 in 2005 to 11,088 in 2009 (20.9% increase) whereas the pericardiotomy rates were essentially the same during the study period. The risk adjusted in-hospital mortality was significantly higher in the pericardiocentesis group than in the pericardiotomy group (15.5% versus 10.3% p<0.001).

Conclusion: In this observational study, we found that during the five-year study period the rates of pericardiocentesis significantly increased while pericardiotomy rates remained unchanged. The risk adjusted in-hospital mortality was significantly higher with pericardiocentesis than pericardiotomy.