Pericarditis

Introduction: Pericarditis

Pericarditis: Inflammation of the membrane surrounding the heart. More detailed information about the symptoms, causes, and treatments of Pericarditis is available below.

Symptoms of Pericarditis

• Chest pain
• Chest pain worse lying down
• Chest pain improves sitting up
• Chest pain improves leaning forward
• Chest pain spreading to shoulders and neck

See full list of 10 symptoms of Pericarditis

Home Diagnostic Testing

Home medical testing related to Pericarditis:

• High Blood Pressure: Home Testing
  • Home Blood Pressure Tests
  • Home Blood Pressure Monitors
  • Home Heart Tests
• Heart Health: Home Testing:
  • Heart Rate Monitors
  • Irregular Heartbeat Detection
  • Heart Electrocardiogram (ECG)
  • Home Cholesterol Tests

Medical Textbooks Online about Pericarditis

Book excerpts: Copyright © 2008 Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. All rights reserved.

Diagnostic Tests for Pericarditis

• ECG
• Chest x-ray
• Chest ultrasound

Read more about tests for Pericarditis

Wrongly Diagnosed with Pericarditis?

• Misdiagnosis of Pericarditis
• Underlying causes of Pericarditis (possibly wrongly diagnosed)

Misdiagnosis and Pericarditis

Heart attacks can be undiagnosed: Although the most severe symptoms of heart attack are hard to miss, there are varying degrees of severity. It is altogether too common for people to die from...read more »

Heart attacks can be overdiagnosed: Although many people die from heart attacks, there are also many cases where people fear that they have a heart attack, but actually have something milder. Some of the conditions which may be ...read more »

Rare heart condition often undiagnosed: The rare heart condition called long QT syndrome can lead to episodes of palpitations and rapid heartbeat. In rare cases, this undiagnosed condition can be fatal. It should be...read more »

Heart attack can be over-diagnosed: Although heart attack is often undiagnosed, leading to fatality, it can also be over-diagnosed. People become concerned that a condition is a heart attack, whereas there are...read more »

Blood pressure cuffs misdiagnose hypertension in children: One known misdiagnosis issue with hyperension, arises in relation to the simple equipment used to...read more »

Hypertension misdiagnosis common in children: Hypertension is often misdiagnosed in adults (see misdiagnosis of hypertension), but its misdiagnosis is even...read more »

Dressler's syndrome or post- MI syndrome: Dressler’s syndrome also known as the post- MI syndrome usually occurs a few weeks after the infarction. It appears to be an immunological reaction characterized by...read more »

Read more about Misdiagnosis and Pericarditis

Causes of Pericarditis

• Underlying causes of infectious pericarditis:
  • Viral heart infection
  • Bacterial heart infection
  • Rheumatic fever
  • Tuberculosis

See full list of 14 causes of Pericarditis

More information about causes of Pericarditis:

• Medications, drugs, or substances causing Pericarditis (6 listings)
• Underlying causes of Pericarditis
• Pericarditis as a complication caused by other conditions
• Pericarditis as a symptom
• Medical news summaries relating to Causes of Pericarditis

Videos for Pericarditis

Patient Surveys for Pericarditis

• Patient Profile Survey
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• Survey about the symptoms of your Pericarditis
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Reseach about Pericarditis

Visit our research pages for current research about Pericarditis treatments.

Clinical Trials for Pericarditis

The US based website ClinicalTrials.gov lists information on both federally and privately supported clinical trials using human volunteers.

Some of the clinical trials listed on ClinicalTrials.gov for Pericarditis include:

• Study of Colchicine to Treat and Prevent Recurrent Pericarditis (First Episode) - This study is currently recruiting patients (Current: 23 Nov 2006) - Colchicine (for 6 months)
• Study of Colchicine to Treat Acute Pericarditis and Prevent Recurrences - This study is currently recruiting patients (Current: 23 Nov 2006) - Colchicine (for 3 months)
• Study of Colchicine to Treat and Prevent Recurrent Pericarditis After Failure of Conventional Treatment. - This study is not yet open for patient recruitment (Current: 23 Nov 2006) - Colchicine
• Study of Colchicine to Prevent the Postpericardiotomy Syndrome - This study is currently recruiting patients (Current: 23 Nov 2006) - Colchicine (for 1 month)
• Constrictive Pericarditis in the Adult Congenital Cardiac Population - This study is no longer recruiting patients (Current: 23 Nov 2006)

Read more about Clinical Trials for Pericarditis

Statistics for Pericarditis

• Medical statistics for Pericarditis
• Prevalence and incidence statistics for Pericarditis
• Death and Mortality statistics for Pericarditis
• Society statistics for Pericarditis

Types of Pericarditis

• Acute pericarditis
• Infectious pericarditis - caused by a virus, bacteria, or fungal infection of the heart
• Non-infectious pericarditis
• Constrictive pericarditis

Read more about Types of Pericarditis

Stories from Users Related to Pericarditis

• chronic pericarditis
• TO: MBarry Re: What sort of tests did you have performed? For pericarditis.
• Pericarditis with no Cause

Related forums and stories:

• Heart Conditions (76)
  • heart skips
  • Wolff-Parkinson-White
  • calf aches
  • Wpw
  • Endocarditis from Cellulitis
  • More user stories

User Interactive Forums

Read about other experiences, ask a question about Pericarditis, or answer someone else's question, on our message boards:

• I can not get a diagnosis. Please help.
• Tell us your medical story.
• Share your misdiagnosis story.
• What is the best treatment for this?
• See all the forums.

Definitions of Pericarditis:

Inflammation of the pericardium. (Dorland, 27th ed) - (Source - Diseases Database)

Inflammation of the pericardium - (Source - WordNet 2.1)

Ophanet, a consortium of European partners, currently defines a condition rare when it affects 1 person per 2,000. They list Pericarditis as a "rare disease".
Source - Orphanet