Constrictive pericarditis in a young patient with very thick pericardium initially diagnosed as cirrhosis

Constrictive pericarditis (CP) is a disease of pericardium that restricts filling of the heart. Patients with CP generally present to hospitals with exercise-induced dyspnea, pretibial edema and abdominal ascites, and it is sometimes mistakenly diagnosed as liver or renal disease. Pericardial thickening, which is defined as more than 4 mm in diameter, is observed in nearly 80% of patients. In the present paper, we describe a case of CP with a pericardial thickness of 12 mm that was initially diagnosed as cirrhosis.

Source: Therapeutic Advances in Cardiovascular Disease - December 10, 2013 Category: Cardiology Authors: Durmus, E., Sunbul, M., Kivrak, T., Sari, I., Mutlu, B. Tags: Letter to the Editor Source Type: research