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A successful pericardiocentesis will result in either:
- Relief of symptoms from cardiac tamponade, including a restoration of blood flow and a reduction of chest pain.
- The extraction of an adequate amount of fluid to conduct diagnostic assessment of the patient. A negative diagnostic will show transparent, straw-colored fluid, no evidence of cancerous cells or infectious pathogens and a white blood cell count less than 1000. An abnormal result may signal pericarditis or other infection, heart failure, cancer, trauma or a ruptured aneurysm.
While the use of imaging to guide the needle and catheter has significantly improved the safety of this procedure and reduced the risk of serious complications from 20 percent in the 1960s to less than 5 percent today, there is a possibility that the following could occur:
- Abnormal heart rhythms (arrhythmias), including ventricular fibrillation
- Cardiac arrest
- Puncture of the heart walls in either the upper chambers (atria) or lower chambers (ventricles) of the heart
- Heart attack
- Tearing of the coronary arteries, lungs, stomach or liver
- Air embolism
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