Symptomatic calcific constrictive pericarditis presenting years after presumed resolved inflammatory heart disease.

Abstract

Inflammatory heart diseases are characterized as a focal, diffuse, or sparse inflammatory process of the myocardium and its adjacent structures. In adults, inflammatory heart disease often progresses to symptomatic dilated cardiomyopathy and heart failure. We report the case of a 42-year-old woman who was diagnosed with right-sided heart failure, presumably secondary to inflammatory heart disease, after the acute onset of exercise intolerance. Nine years after the initial diagnosis, she developed clinical symptoms of calcified constrictive pericarditis. Pericardiectomy was performed and the patient resumed normal functional capacity. In conclusion, close monitoring and careful evaluation of patients with presumed inflammatory heart disease is warranted because of the potential for late-occurring chronic constrictive sequelae.