Constrictive pericarditis: Clinical and pathophysiologic characteristics

Constrictive pericarditis is an uncommon disorder with various causes. Although most often idiopathic, it may also occur after cardiovascular surgery, radiation therapy, and tuberculosis, especially in developing countries. The encasement of the heart by a rigid, nonpliable pericardium results in characteristic pathophysiologic effects, including impaired diastolic filling of the ventricles, exaggerated ventricular interdependence, and dissociation of intracardiac and intrathoracic pressures during respiration. Constrictive pericarditis typically presents with chronic insidious signs and symptoms of predominantly systemic venous congestion. Notoriously difficult to diagnose and distinguish from restrictive cardiomyopathy (RCM), the use of cardiac catheterization, echocardiography (transthoracic and transesophageal), central venous (hepatic and pulmonary) and transvalvular Doppler measurements, and magnetic resonance imaging should secure the diagnosis in most cases, eliminating the need for diagnostic thoracotomy. Although medical treatment may temporarily alleviate symptoms of heart failure, patients do poorly without pericardiectomy. (Am Heart J 1999;138:219-32.)