Thoracic Key

 1. Idiopathic (acute and recurrent pericarditis)  2. Infectious (i) Viral – Coxsackie A/B, echovirus, CMV,EBV, HSV, HBV, HCV, HIV/AIDS, Influenza, adenovirus, varicella, rubella, mumps, parvovirus, B19, HHV6 (ii) Bacterial –…

Fig. 1.1 Human heart with pericardium splayed (black arrows) revealing epicardial fat (asterisk) The normal pericardial thickness is less than 2 mm as seen on imaging studies and less than…

Fig. 3.1 A classic three component friction rub and its timing within the cardiac cycle Pericardial Effusion Without Compression Background Pericardial effusion is an accumulation of fluid in the pericardial…

Fig. 9.1 Tubular deformity of the left ventricle in pericardial constriction Fig. 9.2 Respiro-phasic variation due to ventricular interaction in constriction Fig. 9.3 Pericardial thickening (black arrows) and calcification (white…

Fig. 10.1 Stepwise parsimonious approach to diagnosing the etiology of pericardial effusion Simple clinical assessment has been shown to assist in establishing the diagnosis: large effusion without ‘inflammatory’ signs or…

Fig. 11.1 Pericardial adenosine deaminase activity in various causes of effusion: A box and whisker plot of the distribution of pericardial ADA activity in the various diagnostic classes. OTHER other…

Infectious causes (>2/3 of cases) Viral (especially enteroviruses, adenoviruses, EBV, CMV, parvovirus, HCV, HIV) Bacterial (especially tuberculosis) Other (rare): fungal (rare; histoplasma more likely in immunocompetent patients; aspergillosis, blastomycosis, candida…