Constrictive pericarditis in children
A. W. Strauss, M. Santa-Maria and D. Goldring
We observed five cases of constrictive pericarditis (CP) during a 12-year
period, and studied the clinical findings, usual causes, and hemodynamic
findings. There are two variants of CP: a chronic form, which is usually of
unknown cause, and a rapidly developing form, which follows an attack of
effusive pericarditis. A high index of suspicion is necessary to establish
the diagnosis of CP both in children with a prolonged course of ascites and
failure to thrive and in children with effusive, usually purulent,
pericarditis. Although CP is rare in childhood, it should be easily
recognized and curative surgical therapy should be rapidly initiated.
