Abstract
Introduction: We reviewed the cases of 21 consecutive patients who underwent surgery for chronic constrictive pericarditis between January 2004 and January 2016, to determine causes, surgical techniques, mortality and morbidity rates, and improvement of functional capacity. Patients and Methods: Eleven of our patients were men (52.3%) and ten were women (47.7%); their average age was 48.71±15.6 years. The pericarditis was tuberculous in 13 patients (61.9%), idiopathic in 4 patients (19%), rheumatic in two patients (9.5%), post surgical in one patient (4.75%) and neoplastic in one patient (4.75%). Results: In all the cases, our approach was median sternotomy. All anterior pericardium was resected from left phrenic nerve to right phrenic nerve. No patient required cardiopulmonary bypass. We had no early postoperative mortality. In the 1st postoperative month, functional capacity improved dramatically: the number of patients in New York Heart Association functional class IV moved from 13 (preoperatively) to 4; in class III, from 7 to 3; in class II, from 1 to 6; and in class I, from 0 to 10. Conclusions: We recommend the median sternotomy approach for chronic constrictive pericarditis. Tuberculosis still remains the main cause at our country. It can be treated with excellent results nowadays. Keywords: surgical treatment, chronic constrictive pericarditis DOI: 10.7176/JMPB/68-03 Publication date: September 30 th 2020
Highlights
We reviewed the cases of 21 consecutive patients who underwent surgery for chronic constrictive pericarditis between January 2004 and January 2016, to determine causes, surgical techniques, mortality and morbidity rates, and improvement of functional capacity
Constrictive pericarditis (CP) is a disease characterized by the encasement of the heart by a rigid non-pliable pericardium due to dense fibrosis and adhesions
Pericardio-ectomy is a safe procedure with available techniques. In this retrospective study of 21 consecutive cases at our hospital, we investigated the causal factors of constrictive pericarditis (CCP), surgical techniques, morbidity and mortality rates, and improvement in functional capacity after discharge
Summary
We reviewed the cases of 21 consecutive patients who underwent surgery for chronic constrictive pericarditis between January 2004 and January 2016, to determine causes, surgical techniques, mortality and morbidity rates, and improvement of functional capacity. Constrictive pericarditis (CP) is a disease characterized by the encasement of the heart by a rigid non-pliable pericardium due to dense fibrosis and adhesions. This causes impaired diastolic cardiac function leading to heart failure manifested as systemic without pulmonary congestion. Pericardio-ectomy is a safe procedure with available techniques In this retrospective study of 21 consecutive cases at our hospital, we investigated the causal factors of CCP, surgical techniques, morbidity and mortality rates, and improvement in functional capacity after discharge
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