Pathophysiology of the Pericardium

Pericardial heart disease includes pericarditis, (an acute, subacute, or chronic fibrinous, noneffusive, or exudative process), and its complications, constriction, (an acute, subacute, or chronic adhesive or fibrocalcific response), and cardiac tamponade. The pathophysiology of cardiac tamponade and constrictive pericarditis readily explains their respective findings on clinical examination, Doppler echocardiography, and at cardiac catheterization. The primary abnormality of cardiac tamponade is pan-cyclic compression of the cardiac chambers by increased pericardial fluid requiring that cardiac chambers compete for a fixed intrapericardial volume.
Source: Progress in Cardiovascular Diseases - Category: Cardiology Authors: Source Type: research