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Electrocardiographic studies in acute pericarditis with specific reference to ventricular involvement of non-specific pericarditis.

The authors investigated electrocardiographic changes minutely in five cases of acute pericarditis, and especially in two cases of non-specific pericarditis. The results indicated that the amplitudes of the R and S waves increased progressively immediately after the disease reached a peak, which was reached after abnormal heart shadow in the chest x-ray returned to normal. This increased curve of amplitude varied in association with changes in the ST segment and T wave, suggesting an inflammatory dilatation of the myocardium. On the other hand, however, the curve was indistinct and took a long time to reach a maximum in case of systemic lupus erythematosus pericarditis, and was found to decrease and remain stationary in cases of pericarditis secondary to lung cancer and/or tuberculosis. These facts should become a useful guideline for diagnosis of acute non-specific pericarditis (due to virus origin). Ischemic changes of the ST segment and T wave were manifested by an exercise test during recovery from acute pericarditis when ST segment and T wave abnormalities had already improved and high voltage was the only abnormal finding on the ECG. In the healing stage, regarding the finding of high voltage, it should be pointed out that the myocardium remains as yet with residual damage revealed by loading with exercise, and treatment may be necessary until the abnormal finding has improved.

Acute Disease

Clonal Hematopoiesis and Risk of New-Onset Myocarditis and Pericarditis.

IMPORTANCE: Clonal hematopoiesis of indeterminate potential (CHIP) is the age-related clonal expansion of hematopoietic stem cells with leukemia-associated mutations. Certain CHIP mutations promote atherosclerosis and heart failure through immune-related pathways. OBJECTIVE: To test whether CHIP is associated with the development of myocarditis and pericarditis. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: This observational population-based cohort study used data from the UK Biobank. Enrollment occurred between 2006 and 2010. Participants with whole-exome sequencing, no prevalent cardiovascular disease or hematological malignancy, and complete covariate data were included. Follow-up occurred for a median of 13.6 (IQR, 12.8-14.2) years. Analyses were conducted from November 2024 to July 2025. EXPOSURES: Any CHIP (variant allele frequency [VAF] &#x2265;2%) and large CHIP (VAF &#x2265;10%) constituted coprimary study exposures. Secondary analyses considered DNMT3A and TET2 CHIP as separate exposures. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES: The primary outcome was a composite of incident myocarditis and pericarditis. Cox regression tested associations of CHIP with myocarditis and pericarditis, adjusting for age, sex, race and ancestry, and cardiovascular risk factors. Secondary analyses considered myocarditis and pericarditis as separate outcomes. Additional analyses compared associations of CHIP with myocarditis and pericarditis with those with other cardiovascular diseases, and tested the bidirectional associations between CHIP and noncardiac immune-mediated inflammatory diseases. RESULTS: Among 335&#x202f;426 participants (mean age, 56.1 years; 185&#x202f;429 female [55.3%] and 149&#x202f;997 male [44.7%]), 11&#x202f;057 had any CHIP (3.3%), 7271 had large CHIP (2.2%), and 382 developed myocarditis or pericarditis (0.11%). Any and large CHIP were associated with multivariable-adjusted hazard ratios of 1.75 (95% CI, 1.14-2.68; P&#x2009;=&#x2009;.01) and 2.07 (95% CI, 1.28-3.33; P&#x2009;=&#x2009;.003), respectively, for the primary composite outcome of incident myocarditis and pericarditis. Increased risks were observed for DNMT3A and TET2 CHIP, with hazard ratios of 2.22 (95% CI, 1.17-4.21; P&#x2009;=&#x2009;.01) for DNMT3A with pericarditis and 3.65 (95% CI, 1.16-11.49; P&#x2009;=&#x2009;.03) for TET2 with myocarditis. CHIP associated with myocarditis and pericarditis more strongly than with other cardiovascular diseases (eg, coronary artery disease and heart failure). Any CHIP was also associated with 1.27-fold risk (95% CI, 1.16-1.39; P&#x2009;<&#x2009;.001) of developing noncardiac immune-mediated inflammatory diseases, without evidence for reverse causation. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: In this study, CHIP was a strong risk factor for myocarditis and pericarditis among middle-aged adults. Targeting CHIP and its downstream pathways may represent a strategy for preventing or treating pericarditis and myocarditis.

Adult

[Blood and lymph vessels of the heart in pericarditis of different etiology].

56 heart specimens with pericarditis of different etiology were studied (uraemic, tuberculous, bacterial). In the majority of cases pericarditis was a complication of rheumatic heart diseases, fibrous-cavernous tuberculosis and chronic nonspecific pulmonary lesions, cardiac tumours and other pathology. Models of uraemic and purulent pericarditis were created in 5 rabbits and 30 dogs. The methods of venous injections and cardiac blood vessels injections, angioradiography, macro- and microscopy, histology, electrocardiography were employed. The function of the lymphatic system of the heart was determined by studying dynamically the resorption of Polyglukin from the pericardial cavity of the experimental animals. It was established that the disorders in cardiac activity in cases of pericarditis largely depend on the involvement of its vessels, primarily of the cardiac microcirculation bed, as well as of the veins and lymph vessels ensuring the drainage of the myocardium. Blocks of the venous and lymphatic beds of the epicardium in acute bacterial pericarditis causes disorders in blood and lymph circulation in the superficial layers of the heart muscle. Oedema and hypoxia developing in such situations favour the transit of the process into a chronic one with the formation of adhesions of the serous sheaths of the heart. The complication of any disease by bacterial pericarditis, especially with the development of pericardial obliteration, should be considered as an unfavourable factor worsening the prognosis. Aseptic pericarditis is accompanied by insignificant changes in the vascular system of the heart and cause important disorders in the blood and lymph circulation only in cases of constrictive pericarditis formation.

Animals

Clinical, microbiologic and therapeutic aspects of purulent pericarditis.

Twenty-six patients with purulent pericarditis were seen at the Massachusetts General Hospital between 1960 and 1974. The diagnosis was made in 18 of them during life, but only 6 survived, with an over-all mortality rate of 77 per cent. In eight patients, purulent pericarditis developed in the early postoperative period after thoracic surgery. In seven, purulent pericarditis was the result of contiguous spread of infection from a pleural, mediastinal or pulmonary focus in nonsurgical patients. In five patients, it was the result of direct spread to the pericardium from an intracardiac infection. In the remaining six patients, purulent pericarditis developed as the result of a systemic bactermia. Immunosuppressive therapy, extensive thermal burns, lymphoproliferative disease and other systemic processes affecting host resistance were present in at least half the patients. Staphylococcus aureus was the etiologic agent in the largest number of patients (8 of 26 in this report). However, in contrast to previous studies, in a significant number of the patients (five), purulent pericarditis was the result of fungal infection (in three patients subjected to thoracic surgery and in two immunosuppressed patients). This report confirms that purulent pericarditis is an acute disease with a fulminant course. The diagnosis is easily missed since classic signs of pericarditis (including chest pain, friction rub and diagnostic electrocardiographic abnormalities) may be absent. The echocardiogram shows considerable promise in allowing earlier diagnosis of the pericardial effusion which accompanies purulent pericarditis. Optimal therapy consists of prolonged antibiotic therapy and aggressive drainage of the pericardium. In this series, there were 6 survivors among the 11 patients (55 per cent) who received appropriate therapy.

Acute Disease

Cardiac tamponade, constrictive pericarditis and pericardial resection in rheumatoid arthritis.

Four patients with rheumatoid constrictive pericarditis and two patients with rheumatoid cardiac tamponade are presented, and 60 previously reported cases with these two complications are reviewed. Rheumatoid arthritis was moderate to severe in 84% of the patients with cardiac tamponade and in 74% of the patients with constrictive pericarditis. However, both these complications were also seen in patients who had only mild arthritis and in two previously reported cases constrictive pericarditis actually preceded the onset of rheumatoid arthritis. The duration of rheumatoid arthritis had no bearing on the development of these complications. In 75% of patients with cardiac tamponade, and in 66% of cases with constrictive pericarditis, subcutaneous nodules were present. In those cases where the rheumatoid factor was measured it was positive in 92% with cardiac tamponade and in 84% with constrictive pericarditis. In 63% of patients with cardiac tamponade and in 70% of cases with constrictive pericarditis a history of pericardial type of pain was obtained and/or a pericardial rub heard. The diagnosis of cardiac tamponade and constrictive pericarditis was made clinically and in doubtful cases confirmed by cardiac screening and intracardiac pressure recordings. The low sugar content in the pericardial fluid in the absence of infection or malignancy was an important clue to the rheumatoid etiology of the effusion. In the majority of the cases histological appearances of the pericardial tissue showed non-specific fibrous reaction and infiltration with plasma cells and lymphocytes. Only in five of the cases, including one from the present series, were typical rheumatoid granulomatous lesions demonstrated. Treatment with corticosteroids neither prevented the occurrence nor led to amelioration of either cardiac constriction or tamponade. Pericardial resection was life saving, producing both symptomatic and objective involvement of the cardiac function. In the present series of six cases two patients developed aortic incompetence. In one of these it was due to rheumatoid granulomatous valve disease and in the other due to non-specific aortic valvulitis. The combination of constrictive pericarditis and granulomatous aortic valve disease has not been previously recorded.

Adult

Systolic time intervals in constrictive pericarditis. A study before and after digitalis.

Systolic time intervals were studied in 9 patients with documented constrictive pericarditis before and 15 to 20 minutes after intravenous administration of peruvoside (a quick acting digitalis-like glycoside) to determine underlying myocardial dysfunction. Data were compared with those of similarly studied normal subjects and patients with known myocardial dysfunction. Left ventricular ejection time index (LVETI) decreased in normal subjects (P less than 0.01) and in most patients with constrictive pericarditis, and increased marginally in those with myocardial dysfunction (NS) after peruvoside administration. Pre-ejection period index (PEPI) shortened significantly (P less than 0.01) after peruvoside in normal subjects and in patients with myocardial failure, but not in constrictive pericarditis. Likewise the predicted ejection fraction was insignificantly altered in constrictive pericarditis but significantly so (P less than 0.01) in myocardial failure and normal subjects. The response of one patient with constrictive pericarditis to parenteral peruvoside administration was similar to that seen in patients with myocardial failure. This patient had a delayed recovery after pericardiectomy. PEPI/LVETI ratio and ejection fraction were also abnormal in other patients with constrictive pericarditis when compared to normal subjects. Such abnormalities and the unusual response of some patients to administration of peruvoside may reflect underlying myocardial dysfunction in patients with constrictive pericarditis. However, it is possible that the rigid pericardium also contributes to these abnormalities to a varying extent. Systolic time indices and their response to digitalis appear to be a useful, atraumatic method for detecting underlying myocardial dysfunction in patients with constrictive pericarditis.

Adolescent

Rheumatoid pericarditis. Clinical significance and operative management.

The incidence of subclinical pericarditis associated with rheumatoid pericarditis may be as high as 50 percent, but significant impairment of cardiac performance owing to this type of pericarditis rarely occurs. In the past 7 years, we have encountered eight men with congestive heart failure owing to rheumatoid pericarditis. Cardiac catheterization and echocardiography were useful in establishing the diagnosis of pericardial constriction. Pericardiocentesis was unsuccessful in relieving symptoms in the three patients in whom the procedure was performed. Seven patients underwent pericardiectomy; six had constrictive pericarditis and one patient had an acute pericarditis with the sudden onset of cardiac tamponade. The other patient died of cardiac tamponade prior to operation. All patients improved after operation and have remained free of cardiac symptoms 3 months to 4 1/2 years later. The frequent occurrence of adhesive and obliterative pericarditis with loculated effusions suggests the need for pericardiectomy rather than pericardiocentesis in the patient with rheumatoid arthritis and symptomatic pericardial involvement. Immediate and lasting relief of this unusual nonarticular manifestation of rheumatoid arthritis can be expected after pericardiectomy.

Adult

[Biopsy of the pericardium. Diagnostic value in subacute and chronic pericarditis, apropos of 70 cases].

The aetiology of pericarditis is often difficult to assess. To try to clear up this problem, a pericardial biopsy through a left lateral thoracotomy was performed in 70 cases in which the cause could not be established by the usual means (including pericardial paracenthesis in 32 cases). They included either subacute pericarditis, dry or with effusion (biopsy being undertaken as an average 45 days after the clinical onset), or chronic pericarditis with effusion. Tuberculosis was thus demonstrated in 14 cases (8 of which were aged more than 60 years), inaugural pericardial tumours in 8 and suppuration in 3 cases. Microscopical examination gave support to pathogenic hypotheses concerning cholesterol pericarditis (5 cases) and multi-recurrent pericartitides (6 cases). By elimination with a high probability) of tuberculosis and tumours, it demonstrated definitely the diagnosis of post-radiotherapy pericarditis with effusion (4 cases) pericarditis with normal serous membrane (4 cases) and "idiopathic" forms (23 cases of common sclerogenous subacute inflammation). The inocuity of this method, its more accurate results than those obtained by cytological and bacteriological examination of the pericardial fluid obtained by paracenthesis, should induce to consider this procedure more often in the cases of pericarditis when the aetiology remains doubtful; not to mention the benefit derived from surgical drainage which results in a quicker and more complete cure than repeated paracentheses of chronic and subacute pericardial effusions.

Acute Disease

[Post-radiotherapy pericarditis. 5 cases (author's transl)].

These cases represented 2.8% of the patients admitted for pericarditis during the same period. The cause of irradiation was a carcinoma of the breast in three cases and a carcinoma of the oesophagus in two cases. Acute forms of pericarditis occured 8 and 13 months after irradiations, and chronic forms after 1, 8 and 13 years. Three clinical forms were observed; two patients had an acute form; the first one with a slight effusion was easily cured, the second with cardiac tamponnade recovered after surgical evacuation, two others patients had a chronic latent effusion; after surgical evacuation, one recovered but the other one developped an occult constrictive pericarditis diagnosed by rapid volume expansion. The fifth case was a constrictive pericarditis which was effectively traited by pericardectomy. The difficulty of etiological diagnosis varies with the time and the amount of effusion. When the effusion is moderate the distinction must be made with an acute idiopathic pericarditis; when effusion is large the distinction must be made with a tuberculosis and specially a tumoral recurrence; in three cases pericardial biopsy was carried out and eliminated these diagnosises; lesions were similar: pericard was sclerous and little in cells, inflammatory signs were slight or absent. The postoperative prognosis in constrictive pericarditis may be agravated by associated myocardial lesions.

Acute Disease

Uremic pericarditis: a prospective echocardiographic and clinical study.

During a 14 month period 59 male patients with chronic renal failure who were candidates for chronic hemodialysis (HD) were evaluated clinically and echocardiographically for pericarditis. All were evaluated prospectively prior to or at the initiation of HD. Definite pericarditis was present in 8, all of whom were severely uremic and required initiation of HD on a semiemergent basis rather than electively (i.e., preselected level of renal function). In 6 of these 8, pericardial effusion responded to dialysis alone, one required pericardiectomy because of hypotension complicating dialysis, and one expired during a right atriogram. Patients dialyzed on an elective basis were all free of pericarditis at the initiation of HD. Pericarditis arising some months after the initiation of HD was a less frequent problem. It is concluded that (a) the incidence of pericarditis in the uremic state is decreased by early initiation of HD before advanced uremic symptoms have developed; (b) pericarditis present at the initiation of HD usually but not always is resolved with the initiation of HD; (c) echocardiography is an important clinical and epidemiological toole to investigate pericarditis in uremic patient populations.

Echocardiography

Differential characteristics of the electrocardiogram in early repolarization and acute pericarditis.

Electrocardiographic mimicry necessitates differentiation between acute pericarditis and early repolarization. Among 96 persons, limb-lead RST deviations occurred in all 48 with pericarditis, but only 27 with early repolarization. RS-T vectors (A RS-T) in pericarditis tended to be horizontal (25 patients) and left of the T vector, A T (28 patients); in early repolarization, A RS-T was vertical in 15 subjects and right of A T (20 subjects); P less than or equal to 0.01. RS-T depression in Lead V1 was more common in pericarditis (14 vs. two); isoelectric RS-T in Lead V6 was more common in early repolarization (10 vs. one); P less than or equal to 0.01. PR segment deviations occurred in both limb and precordial leads in pericarditis; in early repolarization they were confined to either lead group. Thus, R-ST deviations in both limb and precordial leads with horizontal A RS-T to left of A T and RS-T depression in Lead V1 favor pericarditis; vertical A RS-T and isoelectric RS-T in Lead V6 favor early repolarization.

Acute Disease

Pericarditis of acute myocardial infarction.

Forty patients with acute myocardial infarction and pericarditis (AMI-P) were encountered over a three-year period. The incidence of AMI-P was 7.2 percent (40 of 554 patients). Fifty consecutive patients with acute transmural infarction without pericarditis (AMI-C) were used as a control group. There were no significant differences between the AMI-P and AMI-C groups regarding age, sex, infarct location, hospital stay or mortality. Painful symptoms of pericarditis were experienced by 37 patients (92 percent), all of whom had developed symptoms by the fourth hospital day. The pericardial friction rub lasted three days or less in 34 patients (85 percent), but an occasional rub could be heard for up to eight days. Twenty patients with AMI-P (50 percent) developed pleural effusions and/or parenchymal pulmonary infliltrates. Twenty-eight AMI-P patients (70 percent) were thought to have had congestive heart failure (CHF) on the basis of their symptoms and physical findings. Radiographic examination could confirm only 13 cases of CHF among the 28 patients in whom the diagnosis was made clinically. Glucocorticoids were given parenterally to 31 of the 37 patients (84 percent) who had symptomatic pericarditis and was felt to be effective in ameliorating painful symptoms. Followup data was obtained on 28 of the 32 surviving patients. Five patients (15 percent) had seven episodes of the postmyocardial infarction syndrome (PMIS). Pericarditis is generally a shortlived complication of acute myocardial infarction. Pleural and parenchymal pulmonary abnormalities are common and probably account for the tendency to "overdiagnose" CHF in patients with AMI-P. PMIS appears to occur more frequently in patients who have had pericarditis at the time of the acute myocardial infarction.

Administration, Oral

[Therapy of uremic pericarditis].

An uraemic pericarditis can appear as complication of a haemodialysis in different stages. At the beginning an uraemic pericarditis is still to be referred to the uncompensated retention or to adaptation processes in the cellular mineral metabolism. An uraemic pericarditis in the later course of the dialysis nearly regularly is connected with an underdialysis syndrome which can be evoked by fistula or shunt complications or by infections of different genesis (sepsis, hepatitis, virus infections). - It is reported on own experiences in the dialytic treatment of uraemic pericarditis. In the period from 1970 to 1976 among 83 patients who were in chronic dialytic treatment an uraemic pericarditis was observed in 21 cases. In 3 patients developed haemorrhagic effusions with tamponade. The longest survival time of a patient with uraemic pericarditis and acute cardiac arrest in the early stage of the dialytic treatment is up to now 5 1/2 years after transplantation of a kidney of a corpse. - The possibilities of an operative exonneration of the heart from pericarditic changes are discussed.

Chronic Disease

Pericarditis: differential diagnostic considerations.

A retrospective analysis of 133 patients was performed to define the factors identifying those individuals at risk for the more serious causes of pericardial disease. In 90% of the cases, the initial assessment from data obtained without pericardiocentesis or pericardiectomy proved correct. Underlying tuberculous or maligant pericarditis were the most common sources of error on initial assessment. Hemodynamic compromise exclusive of anticoagulants, roentgenographic cardiomegaly, pleural effusion, low voltage on ECG, and large pericardial effusion by echocardiography were more common (P less than .05) in tuberculous pericarditis than in acute idiopathic pericarditis. We discuss similar risk factors in patients with chronic idiopathic, rheumatologic, and uremic pericarditis. Anterior pericardiectomy is favored as the diagnostic procedure of choice in patients at risk for the more serious causes of pericarditis because of greater safety, diagnostic sensitivity, and potential therapeutic benefit.

Adult

[Acute pericarditis. Study of 50 consecutive cases].

50 consecutive cases of pericarditis were studied. Idiopathic and viral pericarditis made up 36 p. cent of all cases. The occurrence of tuberculous or rheumatic conditions was even lower than that reported in similar series in the literature. Amongst the clinical signs of these diseases, emphasis should be placed upon the frequency of chest pain which was increased by deep inspiration in only three out of four cases. Circulatory problems associated with the pericarditis were, on the whole, minimal. However, a fall in blood pressure was seen in 6 cases and true collapse in 3 more. The electrocardiogram showed, in addition to the classical signs, sagging of the PR interval in 36 p. cent and transient atrial fibrillation in 4 cases. As far as biological tests are concerned, it should be noted that elevation of creatine phospho-kinase to levels 4 times greater than normal may be seen, creating problems with the differential diagnosis from myocardial infarction. The course was in general favourable though two deaths occurred in this series (4 p. cent), one with tuberculous pericarditis and the other with idiopathic pericarditis.

Acute Disease