ABSTRACT
Background: Pericardial effusion is a common condition in clinical practice. Manifestation of effusion depends on its causes and the underlying diseases as well as influenced by patients characteristics and geographical location. This study was conducted to determine the characteristic of pericardial effusion patient based on age, gender, cytological and clinical diagnosis. Method: The study was conducted using descriptive retrospective method. The data collected was medical record of pericardial effusion patients for 5 years from 1St January 2009 to 31 December 2013. This study was conducted in SMF Pathology Anatomy Dr. Hasan Sadikin General Hospital Bandung. Fifty four cases were collected as samples through total sampling technique. The variables were age, gender, cytological diagnosis and clinical diagnosis. Results: Pericardial effusion mostly occurred in 21 to 30 years old. Pericardial effusion is more common in man than woman. Based on the type of cytology, the most common pericardial effusion was non specific inflammation. The most common clinical features of patients is tuberculous infection. Conclusions: Pericardial effusion frequently occurred in 21 to 30 years old. Based on gender, pericardial effusion is not significantly distributed between male and female. Based on cytological diagnosis, pericardial effusion is mostly diagnosed as non spesific inflammation type. The manjority of clinical feature of pericardial effusion is tuberculosis infection.