Drainage of pericardial effusion by pigtail catheter is one of the techniques. Breakage and retention of pigtail catheter is a rare complication. If the patient is sick and hemodynamically unstable, then the retrieval of the broken part is challenging. A 48 year old male patient with multiple co-morbidities presented with shortness of breath and episodes of syncope was diagnosed with retention of pigtail catheter and massive pericardial effusion. The retrieval of broken pigtail catheter and drainage of massive pericardial effusion by thoracotomy approach in a patient with multiple co-morbidities under the monitoring and guidance of transesophageal echocardiography may be a unique and novel useful technique.