pericardial effusion

[Cargarth]

Hi All , I wrote last week about how I was experiencing chest pains especially down my left side 6 weeks post quadruple bypass.I attended hospital and my checks came back very good , however I was asked to return for a CT scan which said I had moderate pericardial effusion around my heart .They assured me that this is quite common after surgery , but I would appreciate anybody that has had this to reassure me if possible as I am a worrier .Thank you everyone for your help so far

[Lezzers]

Hi Cargarth

My husband had a pericardial effusion after a very extensive & involved ablation, I believe this is quite common as I know of a few people who've had this after an ablation. I know it's a different op but they're all OP's on the heart. They drained the fluid off after his OP & he was kept in the recovery room for a longer period to just ensure he was ok & his EP was happy that the drain had been successful. However, he was prescribed furosemide as a precaution.

A month or so later he was given another scan, unfortunately the scan wasn't too clear but they thought he might still have had some fluid round the heart so he was kept on the furosemide. That was a year ago and to our knowledge he's had no further issues around that.

Hope this helps put your mind at rest. I think if there were any concerns they would take you into hospital to have it drained.