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Intrapericardial treatment of inflammatory and neoplastic pericarditis guided by pericardioscopy and epicardial biopsy—results from a pilot study

From a registry of 136 patients undergoing pericardiocentesis, 14 patients with autoimmune and 15 patients with neoplastic effusions were selected. All underwent pericardioscopy, epicardial and pericardial biopsy with histologic, immunohistologic, and polymerase chain reaction/or in situ hybridization analysis for microbial DNAs and RNA. Pericardioscopy identified neoplastic effusions by the high occurrence of protrusions. Fibrin threads and layers and neovascularization were found in both groups. For identification of the inflammatory and neoplastic process, the combined analysis of the cytology of the effusion and epicardial biopsy evaluation proved to be most important. Epicardial biopsy demonstrated a slightly higher sensitivity for identifying neoplastic disorders in the pericardium than cytology alone. Pericardial biopsy was inconclusive. Intrapericardial administration of 1 g of crystalloid triamcinolone in autoreactive pericarditis prevented recurrence in 13 of the 14 cases after 3 months and in 12 of the 14 cases after 1 year. In neoplastic effusion, intrapericardial administration of 50 mg cis‐platin for 24 h prevented recurrence of a hemodynamically relevant effusion after 3 months in all, and after 6–12 months in 14 of 15 patients. Mortality in neoplastic effusion due to noncardiac tumor progression was 47 and 80%, respectively, after 3 and 6 months, as can be expected in endstage neoplastic disease. This pilot study demonstrates that local drug application is feasible, life‐saving, and well tolerated by the patients. It opens perspectives for local drug application in other cardiac disorders as well.