Pericardiectomy for Active Constrictive Tuberculous Pericarditis

(Department of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, Ogaki Municipal Hospital, Ogaki, Japan)

Jun Yokote Shuji Tamaki Yukifusa Yokoyama
Masato Mutsuga Masaya Nakashima
A 60-year-old man with constrictive tuberculous pericarditis rapidly progressing after his hospitalization underwent partial pericardiectomy, anterior to the bilateral phrenic nerves through a midline sternotomy without a cardiopulmonary bypass. The results of right cardiac examination a month postoperatively showed the cardiac diastolic dysfunction remained unchanged. However, the results after 6 months and also 3 years postoperatively showed the cardiac function recovered from the constrictive pericarditis. He is free from tuberculosis and heart failure. We should be aware of a sign of heart failure due to constrictive tuberculous pericarditis and take the surgical treatment into consideration. We regard the partial pericardiectomy without cardiopulmonary bypass as one of the effective treatments for constrictive tuberculous pericarditis.
@Jpn. J. Cardiovasc. Surg. 34: 276-278 (2005)