Observation of chronic constrictive pericarditis associated with pulmonary asbestosis is reported here. Heart catheterization revealed typical patterns of cardiac constriction. The diagnosis of asbestosis was based on pathologic features associated with a long history of asbestos dust exposure without evidence for tuberculosis. The etiology of this constrictive pericarditis was related to an as...

OBJECTIVES Constrictive pericarditis is the result of a spectrum of primary cardiac and non-cardiac conditions. Few data exist on the preoperative risk specific to survival after pericardiectomy. This study was designed to compare the association of aetiology of constrictive pericarditis and other clinical variables, with long-term survival after total pericardiectomy. METHODS A total of 89 p...

The frequent occurrence of adhesive pericarditis in patients with rheumatoid arthritis has been recognized in pathological studies (Bayles, 1943; Graef, Hickey, Altman, and Rosenthal, 1948). In a study of autopsy material, Sokoloff (1953) found evidence of healed idiopathic pericarditis to be seventeen times more common among patients with rheumatoid arthritis than among other patients. Clinica...

Constrictive pericarditis is caused by fibrosis and calcification of the pericardium, processes that inhibit diastolic filling of the heart. For the diagnosis of constrictive pericarditis, a combined approach is used to evaluate the morphologic pericardial abnormalities in conjunction with assessment of the functional and hemodynamic changes. We report novel findings of chest computed tomograph...

Kawasaki disease is an acute inflammatory disorder of medium-sized arteries that predominantly affects cardiac coronary arteries and children under the age of 5 years. Cardiac involvement usually happens later than 10 days after the onset of illness. Most of cardiac complications are coronary artery abnormalities (ectasia or aneurysms) and subclinical myocarditis. Clinical myocarditis (symptoma...

Etiology Although viral infection is the most common cause of pericarditis, the condition has many possible causes (Table 1), including bacterial infection, myocardial infarction, trauma, malignancy, uremia, hypothyroidism, collagen vascular disease, and the effects of certain drugs, notably hydralazine (Apresoline) and procainamide (Pronestyl). Purulent pericarditis as a result of bacterial in...

Diagnosis of tuberculous pericarditis remains a challenge. We aimed in this study to evaluate the diagnostic value of T-SPOT.TB on pericardial effusion for diagnosis of tuberculous pericarditis. Patients with suspected tuberculous pericarditis were enrolled consecutively between August 2011 and December 2015. T-SPOT.TB was performed on both pericardial effusion mononuclear cells (PEMCs)and peri...

The diagnosis of constrictive pericarditis remains a challenge because its physical findings and hemodynamics mimic restrictive cardiomyopathy. Various diagnostic advances over the years enable us to differentiate between these two conditions. This review begins with a case report of constrictive pericarditis, followed by a brief history and discussions of etiologies. Clinical features, radiolo...

Regional or localized pericarditis has been infrequently reported. We report a patient with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), who presented with retrosternal pleuritic-type chest pain without audible friction rub, electrocardiographic changes or detectable pericardial effusion on echocardiography. Computed tomography, however, revealed a circumscribed area of pericardial inflammation, suggest...

A 25-year-old insulin-dependent diabetic man who was admitted to hospital with severe diabetic ketoacidosis and dehydration showed sequential electrocardiographic abnormalities of acute pericarditis. Though the patient had retrosternal chest pain, no pericardial friction rub was heard. None of the usual causes of pericarditis was found and the electrocardiographic abnormality may have been attr...