Drainage of pleural effusions in the course of unrecognised constrictive pericarditis: a cause of severe haemodynamic deterioration.
Constrictive pericarditis (CP) is a rare disease which can be easily overlooked in the absence of typical pericardial calcification.  One of its most frequent manifestations is pleural effusion. We present a case report of a patient with unrecognised CP  in whom plerocentesis led to haemodynamic collapse, and we speculate about the potential pathomechanism. No obvious  criterion of CP or severe systolic dysfunction was found in baseline echocardiography. We consider that patients with advanced  CP are remarkably prone to haemodynamic decompensation secondary to pleural drain.
Department of Cardiology, Medical University of Bialystok, Poland.
Anna
A
Kozieradzka
Karol Adam
KA
Kamiński
Agnieszka Małgorzata
AM
Tycińska
Tomasz
T
Hirnle
Bożena
B
Sobkowicz
D000328:Adult; D004322:Drainage; D017809:Fatal Outcome; D006333:Heart Failure / Q000150:complications; D006439:Hemodynamics; D006801:Humans; D008103:Liver Cirrhosis / Q000150:complications; D008297:Male; D010492:Pericardiectomy; D010494:Pericarditis, Constrictive / Q000150:complications*; D010996:Pleural Effusion / Q000209:etiology* / Q000628:therapy*