Pericarditis and inflammatory bowel disease.

Pericarditis is an uncommon but important complication of inflammatory bowel disease. Five new cases are described and the published literature on nine other cases is reviewed. The pericarditis occurred during an active phase of the colitis in all our cases and was associated with other extra-colonic manifestations of colitis in three. No other cause for the pericarditis was identified and in all five cases it responded promptly to the administration of corticosteroid drugs.