An unusual cause of acute constrictive pericarditis

Constrictive pericarditis, a condition where the pericardium thickens and constricts, has long been considered as a chronic sequela of prior insults to the pericardium such as heart surgery, repeated pericarditis, tuberculosis infection, radiation exposure, etc. Susceptible populations are thus expected to be middle-aged. We present a case in which a young gentleman was diagnosed with acute constrictive pericarditis due to Adult-onset Still’s disease with macrophage activation syndrome. This case illustrated that constrictive pericarditis could happen in acute settings and thus the importance of cardiologists to maintain open-minded in search of a diagnosis