Evaluation and management of pericarditis

Abstract

Pericarditis may be caused by infectious or noninfectious noxa. Most cases are labeled as ‘idiopathic’ because the traditional diagnostic approach often fails to identify the etiology. Most important causes are presumed to be viruses in countries with a low prevalence of tuberculosis and tuberculosis in developing countries. Noninfectious pericarditis mainly includes autoimmune systemic diseases, post-pericardiotomy syndromes and neoplastic pericardial disease. Treatment should be targeted to the cause, but remains empirical with NSAIDs and the possible adjunct of colchicine in idiopathic cases. Corticosteroids use should be limited to patients with NSAID contraindications/intolerance or failure, and rarely for specific conditions (i.e., pregnancy and systemic autoimmune diseases). Recurrences are the most common complication, but the overall prognosis is related to the etiology, usually benign in idiopathic pericarditis.

Keywords::

• colchicine
• diagnosis
• management
• pericarditis
• prevention
• prognosis

Financial & competing interests disclosure

The author has no relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript. This includes employment, consultancies, honoraria, stock ownership or options, expert testimony, grants or patents received or pending, or royalties.

No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.