title: Transient constrictive pericarditis: causes and natural history.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  This study was designed to elucidate the causes and natural history of transient constrictive pericarditis (CP).
  
  
  BACKGROUND
  In some patients with acute CP, the symptoms and constrictive physiologic features resolve with medical therapy alone, a phenomenon that has been labeled "transient constrictive pericarditis." No large studies have examined the causes or natural history of transient CP.
  
  
  METHODS
  Review of the Mayo Clinic echocardiogram database identified 212 patients who had echocardiographic findings of CP from 1988 through 1999. Demographic, clinical, and echocardiographic findings were identified in all patients. In 36 of these patients, follow-up echocardiograms showed resolution of the constrictive hemodynamics without pericardiectomy.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The average age of the patients was 49 +/- 21 years, and 72% were men. The causes for the CP were diverse, the most common being prior cardiovascular surgery (25%). In a subset of 22 patients who were followed serially during the course of their illness, resolution of the constrictive physiologic features occurred at an average of 8.3 weeks after diagnosis.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  A subset of patients with CP experience resolution of the disorder without requiring pericardiectomy.
authors.affiliation: Division of Cardiovascular Diseases and Internal Medicine, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota 55905, USA. haley.john@mayo.edu
authors.forename: John H
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Haley
authors.forename: A Jamil
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Tajik
authors.forename: Gordon K
authors.initials: GK
authors.lastname: Danielson
authors.forename: Hartzell V
authors.initials: HV
authors.lastname: Schaff
authors.forename: Sharon L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Mulvagh
authors.forename: Jae K
authors.initials: JK
authors.lastname: Oh
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010492:Pericardiectomy; D010494:Pericarditis, Constrictive / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000209:etiology* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D012074:Remission Induction; D014463:Ultrasonography