The Annals of Thoracic Surgery, Vol 50, 998-999, Copyright © 1990 by The Society of Thoracic Surgeons
Easy dissection of hard and thickened pericardium on constrictive pericarditis
T Oku, Y Sawada, S Minohara, T Ohyama and A Takeuchi
Department of Thoracic Surgery, Osaka Medical College, Japan.
The keys to successful pericardiectomy for constrictive pericarditis are
early operation and as complete a pericardiectomy as possible. With the
high-speed burr it is easy and safe to dissect the calcified pericardium
and define the epicardium even in a small operative field such as the
inferior or posterior portion of the heart. This method has the important
ability to perform very complete pericardiectomy.