Three-dimensional echocardiographic appearances of pericardial effusion with tamponade.

A patient with pericardial effusion and tamponade was studied by routine two-dimensional as well as three-dimensional echocardiogram. Chamber "collapses" of the right atrium, left atrium, right ventricle, and inferior vena cava were visualized by both modalities, but were better appreciated on three-dimensional echo imaging, perhaps because three-dimensional echo imaging is more suited to depicting three-dimensional changes in chamber shape.