Constrictive Pericarditis: A Practical Clinical Approach

Constrictive pericarditis (CP) represents a form of severe diastolic heart failure (HF), secondary to a noncompliant pericardium. The true prevalence of CP is unknown but it is observed in 0.2–0.4% of patients who have undergone cardiac surgery or have had pericardial trauma or inflammation due to a variety of etiologies. Despite its poor prognosis if untreated, CP is a potentially curable disease and surgical pericardiectomy can now be...