PERICARDITIS

Abstract

Calcification of the pericardium, also called "pericarditis calculosa, "concretio pericardii," "armored heart" and so forth, has been described by pathologists for many years. Scholz¹mentioned that Morgagni published a report of a case of calcification of the myocardium in 1762, that Bordenave described a case in 1768, and that Simmons and Watson in 1783 published a report of a case, with an illustration. Schwartz,²in 1910, was probably the first to recognize this condition in the course of the life of the patient; he employed roentgenologic methods. Groedel³described a case in 1912 in which he made the diagnosis before death. A review of the literature by Case,⁴up to 1923, disclosed that in thirteen instances the condition had been recognized in the course of the life of the patient. Since Case's review, there have been reported in the literature twenty-one additional cases in which the