Article Text

Download PDFPDF
Pericarditis and pericardial effusions in the military patient
  1. Andrew T Cox1,2,
  2. Y Ayalew1,
  3. S White1,
  4. C J Boos3,
  5. K Haworth4 and
  6. S Ray5
  1. 1Royal Centre for Defence Medicine, Birmingham, UK
  2. 2St George's, University of London, London, UK
  3. 3Department of Cardiology, Poole Hospital NHS Trust, Dorset and Bournemouth University, Poole, UK
  4. 4SG Department, Lichfield, UK
  5. 5University Hospital of South Manchester NHS Trust, Manchester, UK
  1. Correspondence to Maj Andrew T Cox, The Royal Centre for Defence Medicine, Birmingham, B15 2SQ, UK; acox{at}doctors.org.uk

Abstract

The pericardium is the thin double-walled sac encapsulating the heart which has a number of important physiological roles including fixing the heart in the mediastinum, protecting it from cross-organ infection (eg, lung) and lubricating cardiac contraction. The pericardium is associated with several disease syndromes that occasionally affect the military population. These include acute and recurrent pericarditis, pericardial effusion and tamponade, which may result from a large number of different aetiological agents. Pericardial diseases have a wide range of clinical manifestations and the diagnosis of pericardial diseases can be a challenge. This article reviews the anatomy and pathophysiology of pericarditis and pericardial effusions before outlining their clinical features, recommended investigations and management options. Particular emphasis is placed on the impact of these diseases for patients in a military occupational environment.

  • GENERAL MEDICINE (see Internal Medicine)

Statistics from Altmetric.com

Request Permissions

If you wish to reuse any or all of this article please use the link below which will take you to the Copyright Clearance Center’s RightsLink service. You will be able to get a quick price and instant permission to reuse the content in many different ways.