Pericarditi

Frequency?
It represents 2.5% of hospitalized patients in Cardiology. In
Marseilles we can estimated the frequency around 30/100.000
inhabitants. However, the true incidence and prevalence of
pericarditis remains difficult to measure. The incidence of
pericarditis in postmortem studies ranges from 1-6% , whereas
it is diagnosed ante mortem in only 0.1% of hospitalized
patients, and in 5% of emergency room patients that present
with chest pain in the absence of myocardial infarction. In Africa,
the incidence of tuberculous pericarditis is rising as direct result
of HIV where 40-75% of patients with large pericardial effusion
are infected with HIV. Pericardial effusion occurs in up to onethird
of patients with myxoedema and it is detected clinically in
up to 20% of uremic patients who require chronic dialysis. [1].
1.Maisch B, Seferovic PM Ristic AD, and al. Guidelines on the
diagnosis and management of pericardial diseases. The
Taskforce on diagnosis and management of pericardial
diseases of the European Society of cardiology. Eur Heart
J. 2004 ;25:587-610.