Pericardial Effusion

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cbd
cbd Member Posts: 14
edited May 2016 in Stage IV/Metastatic Breast Cancer ONLY

Hi

Wondered if anyone can help, for about two weeks i was feeling out of breath with a pain in my stomach which my doctor thought was trapped gas or acid, cut a long story short I collapsed and was taken to hospital where they thought i had a chest infection. After two days of still feeling out of breath i had a ct scan which showed a pericardial effusion which i had drained. They removed about a litre of fluid which has been sent to be tested and will take several days to get the results. I have no visible mets and my last blood test showed tumor markers below normal levels.

Has anyone had this and what was the cause? change of treatments? I would be grateful for your input.

Be well everyone

CBD

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  • exbrnxgrl
    exbrnxgrl Member Posts: 12,424
    edited May 2016

    I had, and still have, an idiopathic pericardial effusion. I have it monitored annually, but it has remain unchanged and never been drained. I hope this goes well for you and turns out to just be a blip on the radar

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  • cbd
    cbd Member Posts: 14
    edited May 2016

    Thank you for your reply, was it noticed on a scan or did you feel anything? My last echo at the end of feb was normal and now 8 weeks later i couldn't breathe because of the fluid.

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  • exbrnxgrl
    exbrnxgrl Member Posts: 12,424
    edited May 2016

    It's a long story, but it was noticed on an echocardiogram that was done prior to the clinical trial I was enrolling in. A PET scan confirmed it, but also found my bone met, which then became my priority. I had no symptoms from the pericardial effusion and though it is still there, after almost 5 years, it remains unchanged.

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  • Longtermsurvivor
    Longtermsurvivor Member Posts: 1,438
    edited May 2016

    Hi CBD,

    I've had small pericardial effusion twice on scan, because of pleural effusion. When the fluid built up between my lung linings due to many tumors lining the pleural linings, it also caused fluid buildup around my heart. When the pleural fluid was drained, the pericardial fluid resolved.

    But, I did do a lot of research on it and found that it can happen: on it's own, as it has for exbnxgrl; because of a drug or treatment reaction; from an infection; because of cancer in that region and for other reasons.

    When the fluid is drained, they test it for cancer cells, to find out whether it is "malignant pericardial effusion".

    If it is, there are both systemic cancer treatments and specific treatments to the area (draining, surgery) to ease the strain on the heart.

    It's really worth it to sit down with your MO and talk it through. Because it sounds like you've been NED, it's possible that may not be cancer-caused, but it's worth it to find out more and make a plan in case the symptoms return. It's nothing to ignore, as the fluid itself can be life-threatening, whatever the cause.

    It's really scary to feel your heart trapped like that and I'm sending a warm, healing, relaxing hug with strength to face the coming days.

    warm healing wishes too, Stephanie

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  • cbd
    cbd Member Posts: 14
    edited May 2016

    Has anyone else had an effusion drained and what were the results? Did it come back and did you need a pericardial window to keep draining the buildup of fluid?

    Thanks for your help

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