A new explanation for certain instances of acute reversible congestive phenomena in constrictive pericarditis is offered on the basis of 6 patients studied clinically and by right heart catheterization. In 2 cases intermittent tamponade in the presence of a rigid pericardiuma accounted for the reversibility of the congestive state, as contrasted with 4 cases presenting the chronic progressive c...

Four cases of occult pericardial constriction are presented. This condition is not uncommon, but needs high index of suspicion. Integration of detailed echocardiographic evaluation in a given patient with diseases known to cause pericardial involvement can clinch the diagnosis.

Right-sided heart failure is not uncommon. A careful jugular venous examination looking for the distinct Kussmaul's sign and rapid X-Y descents, which are highly indicative of constrictive pericarditis, is markedly helpful in guiding the correct diagnosis and proper management.

P RESSURE patterns from the right auricle and ventricle in constrictive pericarditis were first described in 1946 by Bloomfield and associates' and recently by Hansen and associates2 and McKusick.3 The right auricular pressure curve consists of (a) an M or W shaped pattern with two upward and two downward deflections, (b) moderately or markedly elevated mean pressure and (c) failure of the down...

T HE essential pathology of constrictive pericarditis is the partial replacement of the epicardium and superficial myocardial layers by inelastic fibrous tissue. This interferes with diastolic filling of the ventricles and is recorded during right ventricular catheterization as a high end-diastolic plateau. In addition, the encasing and infiltrating lesion interferes with contractility and ther...

BACKGROUND Constrictive pericarditis is an uncommon disease that prevents the normal diastolic filling of the heart and pericardiectomy is the only satisfactory treatment. METHODS AND RESULTS The clinical characteristics and treatment of patients who underwent pericardiectomy for constrictive pericarditis (n = 23) were reviewed. Surgery was performed via left anterolateral thoracotomy plus tr...

Radiol Bras. 2016 Mai/Jun;49(3):199–204 201 http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/0100-3984.2015.0151 Constrictive pericarditis is characterized by thick pericardial fibrosis and frequent calcification that progressively impairs diastolic filling of the heart, with associated symptoms of heart failure. Annular constrictive pericarditis is extremely rare, and few similar cases have been reported. Previous p...

Pericardiectomy is well recognized as a logical and rewarding form of treatment for constrictive pericarditis. The historical background of the operation has been fully described by Sellors (1946) and it is not felt that the series of cases to be presented here has anything to add to the clinical picture of constrictive pericarditis so fully described by Evans and Jackson (1952). There are cert...