[Medical pericarditis: study of 19 cases]. / Pericarditis médicas: estudio de 19 casos.

19 cases of medical pericarditis admitted to the PICU from 1978 to 1989 were reviewed, to asses the diagnostic and therapeutical approach. The overall incidence is low, 0.32% of the patients admitted to the PICU in that time period. We have found neither tuberculous nor purulent pericarditis, with a 42% of idiopatic forms. Echocardiography was the best method for syndromic diagnosis. The ethiological diagnosis of pericarditis was made, in most cases, by means of non invasive methods or in association with the underlying disease. The cualitative analysis of the pericardial fluid was not useful for the ethiological diagnosis, therefore, we suggest pericardiocentesis should be performed mainly as a therapeutical tool. There were no correlation between the amount of fluid obtained on the first pericardiocentesis and the later incidence of the pericardial effusion. Biopsy brought no ethiological specificity in the cases it was performed.

[Status asthmaticus; experience in a pediatric intensive care unit]. / Status asmático: experiencia en una unidad de cuidados intensivos pediátricos.

Thirty children presenting status asthmaticus in fifty episodes were studied during a period of three and a half years. All of them showed acute respiratory failure secondary to asthma. The purpose was to evaluate treatment results and complications compared with a previous similar study conducted in our unit. We have noticed that there is a lower number of admissions for SA in our ICU and a different seasonal tendency. Precious treatment of asthmatic crisis selective inhaled beta 2 bronchodilators can prevent the ICU admission of an asthmatic patient.