There are available treatments for pericardial effusion, but most of them depend on the quantity of fluid that you have accumulated, the cause of the effusion and if it can cause less heart function, because of the pressure on the heart or cardiac tamponade.  Treating the underlying cause may be of help in correcting the issue.

Medicines to lessen the swelling

If there is no tamponade or if there is no adequate treatment of tamponade, the doctor may give you either aspirin, NSAIDs and Colcrys to cure the swelling regarding pericardium that might contribute to pericardial effusion. If your body will not respond to the medicine of if you have a recurring pericardial effusion after the treatment has been successful, then the doctor might prescribe a corticosteroid like prednisone.

Other possible treatment options

If anti-inflammatory treatments cannot do something to your struggles with tamponade or if you are of greater risk of it then a cardiologist might tell you to go through fluid draining to prevent fluid from building up again. These are some of the possible treatment options for you to solve the problem.

  1. Draining of the fluid. The doctor will use a need and it will be inserted in a pericardial space & then there will be a catheter that will be inserted to drain the fluid from it. This procedure is better known as pericardiocentesis. The doctor may also use certain imaging devices like ECG or x-ray for fluoroscopy to aid the doctor with the procedure. The heart will be closely monitored using an ECG machine, in a lot of cases; the catheter will be left to drain the pericardial space for days to prevent the fluid from building up once again.
  2. Open heart surgery. This can be another option if there is a bleeding in the pericardium after a current operation or if there are complications. A patient may go through a surgery to drain and repair for damages. Very seldom, the surgeon can drain the pericardium and then make a passage way for the fluid to drain going through the abdominal cavity wherein the fluid will be absorbed.
  3. Sealing of the layers altogether. While a procedure is ongoing, especially in the case of intrapericardial sclerosis, a solution will be injected into space between the 2 layers of the pericardium that adequately seals the layers together. This is a process that is used if there is a recurring pericardial effusion or if cancer is the reason for this.
  4. Removing the pericardium. Pericardiectomy is surgical removal of all of the part of the pericardium. This process is best for the treatment of recurring effusions in spite of the catheter drainage. The heart may function well once again minus the pericardium.