[An exemplificative case of constrictive pericarditis]. / Un caso esemplare, ma soprattutto esemplificativo, di pericardite costrittiva.

ABSTRACT

Constrictive pericarditis is a rare, but fatal disease, leading to heart failure due to diastolic dysfunction resulting from the fibrotic and non-elastic pericardium. Clinical presentation is sneaky, with initial symptoms of splanchnic and peripheral venous congestion, then with hepatomegaly and ascites this kind of presentation is not often recognized, delaying diagnosis. We report the case of a young male adult with no previous cardiovascular history, but with a diagnosis of hepatic cirrhosis investigations in our Centre led to the diagnosis of constrictive pericarditis, successfully treated with pericardiectomy; however, despite the effective venous decongestion, it was not possible to spare the patient from liver transplant.