Post Myocardial Infarction Syndrome: An Early Complication of Acute Myocardial Infarction

Five patients with acute myocardial infarction developed pleuropericarditis during the first week of their illness. Angiocardiography was diagnostic for pericardial effusion in four patients and in the fifth patient the effusion was demonstrated by echocardiogram. Prednisone therapy resulted in dramatic relief of symptoms and signs in one patient in whom subsequent withdrawal of the drug was associated with prompt recurrence. The other four patients experienced spontaneous resolution of the pleuropericardial and pulmonary findings. The observations reported here suggest that a pericardial rub heard during the first days of acute myocardial infarction is sometimes a manifestation of the Dressier syndrome, and not always simply the reflection of transmural infarction.