[Clinical case of the month. Constrictive pericarditis with a macroscopically normal pericardium: apropos of a case].

The diagnosis of constrictive pericarditis is not easy to make. This rare condition can be suggested by clinical, echocardiograohic, hemodynamic, and radiological signs. It must be distinguished from restrictive cardiomyopathy as therapeutic options are radically different. We present an ambiguous case of constrictive pericarditis with macroscopically normal pericardium recognized 10 years after open-chest cardiac surgery: a large pericardiectomy rapidly induced clinical improvement.