Rheumatoid pericarditis with cardiac failure treated by pericardiectomy.

Abstract

Three patients with rheumatoid arthritis and cardiac failure are described. In 2 the failure resulted from rheumatoid pericarditis, and was abolished by perlcardlectomy. The 3rd patient had pericarditis with some features of constriction, but pericardiectomy gave only temporary improvement, and the necropsy showed severe coronary arterial disease which was probably a major factor contributing to the cardiac failure. It is suggested that rheumatoid disease may be a more common cause of harmful chronic pericarditis than has hitherto been recognized.