Clinical And Echocardiography Outcomes Following Pericardiectomy In Chronic Constrictive Pericarditis

Introduction: Leading cause of chronic constrictive pericarditis differs according to geographic location, tuberculosis remains the most common cause of constrictive pericarditis in Africa and Asia where as in western country it remains a rare entity and idiopathic causes remains the most common etiology. Here our aim was to study the clinical and echocardiography outcomes post pericardiectomy & compare it with other previous clinical studies. Methods: This is a retrospective study of 12 months with mean follow up period of 2.40 ± 2.01 years. PHILIPS EPIQ7C machine was used for echocardiographic analysis. Mitral and tricuspid inflow velocities were detected using PW doppler in apical 4-chamber view with sample volume of 2-4 mm. Results: All the patients in the study population presented with dyspnea 19(100%). Annulus reversus was observed in all our patients (19, 100%), which resolved completely postoperatively. Mean duration of hospital stay was 26.63 ± 13.09 days with mean ICU stay of 5.89 ± 2.4 days. Discussion: Different from international studies, we observed pericarditis in younger age group with mean age of 26.58 ± 11.9 years which could be accountable to Tuberculosis in young generation in India, as also observed by other indian studies. In our study, there was significant respiro-phasic variation in the mitral and tricuspid E velocity in all patients. Conclusions: Studies on detailed echocardiographic evaluation in terms of various parameters like mitral and tricuspid E velocities and tissue doppler imaging are sparce. This study adds to the important role of echocardiography in assessment of chronic constrictive pericarditis.