[Pericardial disease: from antiquity to the ultrasound].

Even if it is accepted that the first (accidental) pericardial resection was performed by Galen while trepanning the sternum of a patient with mediastinitis, it is surprising that the large historical gap in the description of pericardial diseases was closed until the studies from Richard Lower (1613-1691), demonstrated the role of the pericardium in human disease. Modern diagnostic tools currently allow to diagnose rapidly and precisely pericardial diseases. Through this article, we pretend to remember those physicians to whom we owe such advances in medicine.