[Chronic constrictive pericarditis. 27 cases].

Twenty-seven cases of chronic constrictive pericarditis seen between 1975 and 1990 in an internal medicine department were analyzed retrospectively. The chronic pericarditis was consecutive to one (n = 5) or several (n = 7) episodes of acute pericarditis. Echography demonstrated the presence of pericardial effusion in 74 percent of the cases, pericardial thickening in 41 percent and/or compression of right heart cavities in 55 percent. Computerized tomography of the chest, performed in 16 cases, showed pericardial effusion in 63 percent of the cases, pericardial thickening in 37 percent and lymph node enlargement in 19 percent. Magnetic resonance imaging of the chest was carried out in 2 patients but showed no abnormality. All 11 patients who underwent cardiac catheterization were found to be adiastolic. The cause of constrictive pericarditis, elicited in 13 patients was neoplasia in 4, sequelae of radiotherapy in 2, injuries in 2, mediastinal and retroperitoneal fibrosis in 2, myocardial infarction in 1, purulent pericarditis in 1 and bacteriologically proven tuberculosis in 1. Medical treatment with corticosteroids (n = 16) and/or antituberculous therapy (n = 15) was successful in 2 patients; 25 patients had to undergo surgery 7 +/- 11 months after constriction was diagnosed. Pericardial drainage (through a pericardiopleural window in 4 cases) proved to be sufficient in 10/15 patients but failed in 5. Pericardectomy was performed initially in 3 cases and after failure of medical treatment and/or drainage in 11 cases. The 4 patients with neoplastic constrictive pericarditis died 10 months on average after the diagnosis, but the remaining 23 patients were alive after à 9 to 48 months (mean: 19 +/- 15) follow-up. These results suggest that the data provided by echocardiography and computerized tomography of the chest usually point to the relevant therapeutic measures without a need for invasive haemodynamic exploration. Idiopathic constrictive pericarditis now accounts for 50 percent of the cases; tuberculosis has become exceptional, but the other, previously exceptional causes (neoplasia, heart surgery, radiotherapy, connective tissue diseases) are more frequent. Corticosteroids should be used in chronic constrictive pericarditis occurring after cardiac surgery or in the course of a connective tissue disease, but they are effective only in highly inflammatory forms of the disease. Modern treatment relies on early surgery, since functional results and patient's survival are closely related to the date of pericardectomy which must be carried out before very important myocardial repercussions develop.