title: Post-irradiation constrictive pericarditis following thymoma treatment: a report of two cases.
abstract: Whole pericardial irradiation may be performed for mediastinal malignancies with pericardial dissemination or malignant pericardial effusion. Case 1 is a 57-year-old woman with a B1 thymoma, Masaoka stage IVa. She underwent whole pericardial irradiation and suffered post-irradiation constrictive pericarditis 3 years later. Diuresis, catecholamine infusions, drainage, and pericardiectomy were performed. However, she died of heart failure after 4 years and 1 month due to constrictive pericarditis. Case 2 is a 56-year-old woman with myasthenia gravis and a B2 thymoma, Masaoka stage III. She underwent an extended thymectomy with partial resection of the lung and pericardium and received adjuvant radiation therapy of the whole pericardium. She was affected by post-irradiation constrictive pericarditis 7 months later, for which she underwent pericardiectomy. However, her constrictive pericarditis remained. In conclusion, we report two advanced thymoma cases with post-irradiation constrictive pericarditis. Indicators for whole pericardial irradiation should be determined strictly and carefully.
authors.affiliation: Department of Oncology, Immunology and Surgery, Nagoya City University Graduate School of Medical Sciences, 1 Kawasumi, Mizuho-cho, Mizuho-ku, Nagoya, 467-8602, Japan.
authors.forename: Yu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Hikosaka
authors.forename: Motoki
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Yano
authors.forename: Shinya
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Otsuka
authors.forename: Hidefumi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Sasaki
authors.forename: Satoru
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Moriyama
authors.forename: Katsuhiro
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Okuda
authors.forename: Masayuki
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Shitara
authors.forename: Yoshitaka
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Fujii
mesh_terms: D003131:Combined Modality Therapy; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D017809:Fatal Outcome; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D009157:Myasthenia Gravis; D010492:Pericardiectomy; D010494:Pericarditis, Constrictive / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000209:etiology / Q000601:surgery; D011878:Radiotherapy / Q000009:adverse effects; D013934:Thymectomy; D013945:Thymoma / Q000532:radiotherapy* / Q000601:surgery; D013953:Thymus Neoplasms / Q000532:radiotherapy* / Q000601:surgery
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