Tuberculous (TB) pericarditis is a rare but life-threatening form of extrapulmonary tuberculosis. The diagnostic strategy and optimal therapy for TB pericarditis are not well established. We retrospectively analyzed the diagnostic data, clinical characteristics, treatment and outcome in a total of 19 patients with TB pericarditis treated from January 1988 to July 2002. Based on the finding of e...

OBJECTIVES This study was conducted to assess the diagnostic role of Doppler echocardiography in constrictive pericarditis. BACKGROUND It has been observed that patients with constrictive pericarditis have a characteristic Doppler pattern of respiratory variation in ventricular filling and central venous flow velocities. However, the observation was based on a small number of patients with kn...

OBJECTIVE The surgical approach for effusive constrictive pericarditis (ECP) has not been extensively studied. We present our institution's early and long-term results of pericardiectomy in our cohort of patients with ECP. METHODS Diagnosis was made primarily by echocardiography. Right heart catheterisation was performed in eight patients. Pre-operatively, 10 patients had undergone at least o...

The diagnosis of constrictive pericarditis (CP) continues to be a challenge in the modern era. Understanding the pathophysiology and integrating the results of invasive and non-invasive techniques are important in the differential diagnosis of CP and e.g. restrictive cardiomyopathy. New echocardiographic techniques such as tissue Doppler imaging (TDI) and 2D-speckle tracking, dual-source CT (co...

BACKGROUND Mulibrey nanism is a rare inherited disease characterized by growth failure and multiorgan manifestations, including constrictive pericarditis. Its long-term course, the results of pericardiectomy, and the details of myocardial involvement have not been reported previously. METHODS AND RESULTS We studied 49 patients (26 men) born before 1985 and followed for up to 25 years. By 1999...

A retrospective analysis of clinical data of 71 patients with constrictive pericarditis (CP) diagnosed by echo-Doppler technique (mean age, 49+/-17) was done. In 27 patients (38%), the etiology was unknown, and the three most frequent identifiable causes were tuberculosis (23/71, 32%), cardiac surgery (8/71, 11%), and mediastinal irradiation (6/71, 9%). Pericardiectomy was performed in 35 patie...

OBJECTIVE Constrictive pericarditis is a disease characterized by marked thickening of the pericardium which causes restriction of diastolic cardiac function. The purpose of this report is to review the outcome of pericardiectomy for constrictive pericarditis and to discuss its problems. METHODS Sixteen consecutive patients who underwent pericardiectomy for constrictive pericarditis in our in...

The effect of the pericardium on the end-systolic pressure-segment length relationship in the left ventricle was examined with an ultrasonic miniature gauge in open-chest dogs. In 12 dogs, blood was infused until left ventricular (LV) end-diastolic pressure reached about 20 mm Hg, and then the pericardium was opened widely. In the other 12 dogs a pericardiectomy was performed without blood infu...

Background—Mulibrey nanism is a rare inherited disease characterized by growth failure and multiorgan manifestations, including constrictive pericarditis. Its long-term course, the results of pericardiectomy, and the details of myocardial involvement have not been reported previously. Methods and Results—We studied 49 patients (26 men) born before 1985 and followed for up to 25 years. By 1999, ...