Haemodynamic Effects of Pericardial Closure after Cardiac Surgery

Whether pericardial closure should be done ornot is still a debated topic. While many studies favourpericardial closure after cardiac surgery, many are still not infavour of the same.Objective : Objective of this study was to analyse the changesinduced by pericardial closure on the haemodynamic of thepatient using easily measurable variables.Methods : Data of 30 patients were analysed of which 14underwent mitral valve replacement, 10 underwent coronaryartery bypass grafting and 6 underwent double valvereplacement.Results:There was statistically significant change in cardiac output(p<0.01), central venous pressure (p<0.05) and left ventricularend diastolic diameter (p<0.01) after pericardial closure.Clinically the pericardial closure was well tolerated.Conclusion: Despite exhaustive experience, the topic of closingpericardium is still debated. Our study shows that clinicallypericardial closure is well tolerated and in return it alsosafeguards the risks associated with re-do operations