Surgical Treatment for Contrictive Pericarditis

Chronic constrictive pericarditis is a chornic inflammatory process that involves both fibrous and serious layers of the pericardium and leads to pericardial thickening and compression of the ventricles. The resultant impairement in diastolic filling reduces cardiac function. Pericardiectomy remains the treatment of cholice. A review of 52 cases at department of cardiothoracic surgery LRH, Peshawar is presented. There was a mortlaity of 7.7% and a morbidty of 28% . 51 of the 52 cases were tuberculous. In followup all surviving patients reverted to NHYA-I within three months of surgery. The surgical excision of pericardium remains the only available curative treatment for constrictive pericarditis.