Clinical Features and Prognosis of Surgically Proven Constrictive Pericarditis Following Orthotopic Heart Transplantation

Constrictive pericarditis (CP) results in pericardial noncompliance and diastolic dysfunction. Definitive treatment is pericardiectomy, but data on CP following orthotopic heart transplantation (OHT) are limited. Accordingly, a retrospective review of eight cases of surgically proven CP post-OHT undergoing pericardiectomy was conducted. In this series, all patients were male. Median time to symptomatic CP following OHT was 1.7 years (0.8-18.1 years). Echocardiographic assessment was diagnostic for CP in three cases (38%).
Source: The Journal of Heart and Lung Transplantation - Category: Transplant Surgery Authors: Source Type: research