Chronic Constrictive Pericarditis in Association with Rheumatoid Disease

THE ASSOCIATION of rheumatoid states with pericarditis is known."2 Coincidence of rheumatoid arthritis and chronic constrictive pericarditis is uncommon and represents a fascinating study in the pathogenesis of pericardial constriction. Repeated episodes of acute pericarditis associated with migratory polyarthritis and gradual development of constrictive pericarditis can seldom be documented. A patient with this disease patteril was seen recently at the Cincinnati Veterans Administration Hospital and successfully treated. Description of this patient's clinical course along with a discussion of the relationship between rheumatoid disease and pericarditis constitutes the basis of this report. The etiology and incidence of constrictive pericarditis in general are briefly reviewed.