Introduction:

Cardiac tamponade may be the form of presentation of pericardial metastases of different neoplasms.

Objective:

to characterize aspects of interest in patients with cardiac tamponade from the intensive care unit of the Hospital "Dr. Agostinho Neto de Guantánamo during the period 2010-2016.

Method:

A descriptive, retrospective and longitudinal study was carried out. The following variables were studied: age, sex, state at discharge, complementary studies performed, semiodiagnostics and applied treatment.

Results:

the age of the patients was 66.5 ± 10.1 years; The majority were men (61.5%) and died (61.5%). All patients underwent haemochemistry, transthoracic echocardiography, pericardiocentesis, pericardial fluid (cytochemical, cytological and bacteriological) and chest X-rays. The most common causes were lung neoplasia (30.7%) and breast cancer (23.1%).

Conclusions:

cardiac tamponade is expressed as a form of presentation of malignant pericardial effusions, and this should be taken into account in a critically ill patient due to large pericardial effusion.

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