DOI: 10.36347/sasjm.2023.v09i04.003

Pages: 249-252

Objective: To provide a description of the clinical, etiological, and therapeutic aspects of pericardial effusions in Marrakech. Material and methods: This is a retrospective and cross-sectional study conducted in the cardiology department of the Avicenna military hospital from January 2014 to August 2018 of patients hospitalized for pericardial effusion, confirmed by echocardiography-doppler. Results: The study included 52 patients. The mean age was 43.6 ± 4.2 years (ranging from 24 to 81 years) with a sex ratio of 1.4. Exertional dyspnea and chest pain were the main symptoms. Sinus tachycardia was the main electrocardiographic sign. Pericardial effusion was moderate in 24 patients (46.15%). Pericardiocentesis was required in 8 cases (15.4%). The etiologies of the effusion were: idiopathic/viral (77%), tuberculosis (15.4%), neoplastic (3.8%), lupus and rheumatism (3.8%). Conclusion: Pericardial effusions mainly concern young subjects, their diagnosis is based on echocardiography, the treatment is according to the cause, tuberculosis is epidemic in our context but its frequency is decreasing in favor of more inflammatory/viral causes.