Today's Daily Dose: Pericardiocentesis

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“Since most pericardial effusions look like port wine or frank blood, you need to be sure that the fluid you are withdrawing is the effusion and not blood from iatrogenic puncture of a vessel or cardiac chamber. To make sure, remove a sample with the 12-ml syringe, and place it in a serum separator or a plain (red-top) tube, and monitor it for clotting. If it does not clot after one or two minutes, you can usually assume the fluid is effusion, not blood.”

-Mark D. Olcott, DVM, and Meg Sleeper, VMD, DACVIM (cardiology)

From How to perform a pericardiocentesis